


shining on you

by jincess



Series: jj parents [1]
Category: GOT7
Genre: Adopted Children, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adoption, Alternate Universe - Parents, Anxiety, Baby Kim Yugyeom, Children, Cute, Cute Kids, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Choi Youngjae, Kid Fic, Kid Jackson Wang, Kid Kim Yugyeom, Kid Kunpimook Bhuwakul | BamBam, Kid Mark Tuan, Light Angst, Muteness, Nightmares, Parenthood, Parents Im Jaebum | JB/Park Jinyoung | Jr., Past Child Abuse, Selectively Mute Character, Separation Anxiety, Soft Im Jaebum | JB, Soft Park Jinyoung | Jr., Speech Disorders, Sweet, the tags are kind of in order of who gets adopted, which is markson then yj then bam then yugy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2019-08-17 15:24:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 39,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16519070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jincess/pseuds/jincess
Summary: jinyoung smiles, leaning his forehead against jaebum’s, whispering, “hyung… we’re parents now…”“we sure are,” jaebum whispers back, kissing jinyoung gently. “and we’ll be good at it.”





	1. mercury and mars

**Author's Note:**

> hey hoes im Back  
> i was working on this for a While so hfbgfdbn I DIDNT WRITE THIS IN A DAY sadly
> 
> we're goin into the stories of how each of the kids were adopted in jj parents au !!!! bc someone was curious and I Can't Stop
> 
> so first we have markson!!!!!! next will be yj, then bam, then yugy uwu  
> in the next 3 chapters it wont be like them Suddenly goin to adopt whoever the chapter is gnna be abt its gnna have some cute or maybe some hurt comfort in the beginning !! like next ch it wont go straight to adopting yj itll be how mark nd sseun have adapted and all but mark bein a nervous bub and all but happy happy times! thats why its Light Angst and All Fluff
> 
>  
> 
> yea!!!!!! uwu

“hey, jinyoung?”

 

jinyoung looks over at jaebum, who has his phone in hand with a grin on his face. jinyoung sits up in confusion at the happy glint in his eyes and asks, “what is it?”

 

“the adoption agency called,” jaebum says, and jinyoung gasps, scrambling up off the couch and going over to jaebum. “they approved us. they deemed us and our home safe.”

 

jinyoung tears up a little, hugging jaebum tightly and burying his face against his neck. “b-but… are they gonna only make us bring home only one of the boys?”

 

“nope,” jaebum says with a smile, pulling away slightly. “mark and jackson -- they both throw tantrums if someone tries to adopt only the other. of course, they know that we’ve gotten close to the both of them, so they said we can officially adopt the both of them. they just need to have a better run down with us about the boys, especially mark, apparently.”

 

“that’s fine,” jinyoung sniffles, and when he looks up, jaebum’s smiling down at him, eyes welling up with a few tears. “when can we sign the papers and all?”

 

“well…,” jaebum says sheepishly, and jinyoung raises an eyebrow. “i _kind of_ got really excited and told them in an hour or so?”

 

“hyung, that means we have to get ready right _now!_ ” jinyoung gasps in realization, moving away from jaebum and running up the stairs to change into more presentable clothing. jaebum laughs as he follows him into their room, catching the clothes jinyoung throws at him to change into. they change quickly and shove on their socks and shoes, grabbing their phones and wallets and keys before rushing into the car. as soon as they close the doors, jinyoung takes a deep breath and squeezes jaebum’s hand with a smile, jaebum smiling back as he whispers, “i love you.”

 

* * *

 

“mister prince!”

 

jinyoung bends down and lets jackson tackle him with a hug, laughing as he ruffles his hair. “i’m not a real prince, jackson-ah.”

 

“you look like one,” jackson says determinedly. “are you here to visit again?”

 

“well,” jinyoung says, smiling at mark, who stands behind jackson curiously, and then glancing at jaebum before looking back at jackson. “yes and no.”

 

“we’re going to adopt you,” jaebum says, bending down next to jinyoung. “would you like that?”

 

jackson frowns and takes a few steps back, so he can hold mark’s hand. “wh-what about mark?”

 

“we’re adopting him, too,” jinyoung hums. “we’re adopting the both of you.”

 

mark gasps softly, eyes twinkling as he looks at jackson, who’s gaping at them in surprise. they both grin widely and jackson squeals, “really? you want the both of us?”

 

“of course we do,” jaebum says, chuckling at how excited they are. “we’ll be back in a bit, okay?”

 

“we have to do _lots_ of papers,” jinyoung sticks out his tongue dramatically, making mark giggle. “but it’s worth it if we can take you both home.”

 

“we’ll be waiting here!” jackson says firmly, nodding as though he’s convincing himself. mark nods in agreement, and jinyoung dramatically blows them kisses before he and jaebum stand up to go sign the papers. jackson turns to mark, bouncing giddily as he says, “we’re gonna get a new home together!”

 

“i’m happy they want both of us,” mark comments shyly, and jackson nods in agreement before pulling his friend over to the toys so they can play as they wait.

 

* * *

 

“i just wanted to go over these few things briefly with you, before you sign,” wooyoung says when jinyoung and jaebum sit down. “i know you guys are ready for this commitment but -- it’s just important for me to go over this with you, so nothing happens. i’d hate to see if something happened.”

 

“it’s fine, hyung,” jaebum says, holding jinyoung’s hand -- wooyoung’s an old friend of jaebum’s, and he’s helped them throughout their adoption process. “what do we need to know?”

 

“it’s just personal things about the boys, so nothing’s accidentally triggered.”

 

wooyoung sighs as he looks at his papers, continuing, “jackson -- the only thing for him is that he seems to get angry if someone tries to insult or hurt, or maybe even touch, mark -- his anger’s calmed a bit, but it’s something to keep in mind. but i’m sure you can understand, jinyoung-ah, with jaebum’s temper and all.”

 

“hey!” jaebum protests as jinyoung chuckles, scrunching up his nose. “i’m not _that_ bad anymore.”

 

“mhm,” wooyoung says with a smile, putting aside jackson’s file. he sighs once more when he opens mark’s file. “this one’s a tad bit heavier.

 

“mark came in here a year ago, when he was four,” wooyoung says, pursing his lips. “he’s terrified of most male figures, especially if they’re large and/or tall. he didn’t have the best life -- police took him away from his father because he was neglectful and abusive. he saw how jackson stood up for him and stuck with him ever since. you two are the first that he hasn’t been as hesitant to talk to.”

 

jaebum exhales shakily, squeezing jinyoung’s hand, as he can feel him trembling. “is that why they told us they’d be harsher on evaluating us and our home?”

 

“exactly it,” wooyoung confirms, setting aside the file. “but i trust you both -- i know you’ll be great parents. you’d still like to continue, of course, with the adoption papers?”

 

“of course,” jinyoung says, sitting up and smiling at jaebum. “let’s do it.”

 

* * *

 

jackson looks up when he sees jinyoung and jaebum approach them, and he gasps, setting aside his toys and poking mark. “mark! mark hyung! they’re back!”

 

mark sits up and stares at the adults with wide eyes as jinyoung bends down in front of them again. “y-you’re back.”

 

“we promised we’d be back,” jinyoung coos. “we finished signing the papers. you can both come home with us now.”

 

jackson grins and he pats mark’s head, saying, “i’ll get our things! mister jaebum, come help!”

 

jaebum chuckles as he follows jackson, and jinyoung sits down next to mark, watching as the 5 year old plays with his princess doll shyly. “you got a new princess! what’s her name?”

 

“yves,” mark says, petting down the doll’s hair. “she and princess chuu like each other. they kiss sometimes.”

 

“oh, princess chuu has a girlfriend now?” jinyoung gasps, grabbing said princess doll. “that’s very cute. i’m glad they have one another.”

 

mark smiles, nodding in agreement. he grabs the few toys that belong to him and jackson that were still lying around. he looks back up at jinyoung, whispering, “you’re gonna be nice to me and sseunie, right?”

 

“of course, sweetheart,” jinyoung whispers back, brushing mark’s bangs to the side so he can look him in the eye. “we’d never want to be mean to either of you.”

 

mark smiles happily, and jackson and jaebum come back at that moment. jackson gives mark his backpack and the older shoves their toys inside, knowing the other one was full with whatever clothes and drawings they had left. the two put on their backpacks and mark stands up, holding jackson’s hand. jaebum smiles at them, reaching out to hold mark’s other hand while jinyoung holds jackson’s, saying, “ready to go?”

 

the two kids nod, and jinyoung and jaebum lead them out, bowing to the workers and thanking them for their help quietly. mark and jackson get in the backseat of the car as soon as jaebum unlocks it, and they put on their seatbelts before holding hands again -- jinyoung notices, as he’s sitting in the passenger seat and clicking on his seatbelt and checking in the rearview mirror, how jackson’s rubbing his thumb over mark’s knuckles, a motion that seems too solemn for a four year old.

 

“so, it’s around dinner time,” jaebum comments once he starts driving, smiling when he notices mark and jackson staring out the windows in awe. “what do you two want to eat?”

 

mark and jackson look at each other before grinning.

 

“mcdonald’s!”

 

* * *

 

jinyoung opens the door to their house, cup holder full of drinks in his other hand as jaebum holds the bags of food. mark and jackson step inside, looking around with wide and fascinated eyes. jinyoung coos at them before leading them into the dining room, watching as they hesitantly climb onto the chairs.

 

jinyoung hands them their juice boxes as jaebum takes out the food, humming dramatically, “hmm… i wonder, who are all these chicken nuggets for, jinyoungie?”

 

“i guess we’ll just have to eat them,” jinyoung sighs, and jackson giggles at his dramatics, making grabby hands at the nuggets. jinyoung gives them their individual box of ten nuggets and their own large fries. they would’ve gotten the happy meals for them, but the kids had looked eager to each have ten nuggets, so jaebum immediately ordered it. jaebum and jinyoung sit down, starting to eat their own food.

 

“this house is really pretty,” mark says hesitantly, swirling his fry in ketchup before popping it in his mouth.

 

“thank you,” jinyoung smiles gently, and mark smiles shyly. “after dinner, you both should take a bath -- then we’ll show you your room, okay? are you two all right with sharing a room? that’s what we had set up for you two...”

 

mark and jackson nod eagerly, and jinyoung adds, “that’s great! when you settle down, we can decide how you want to decorate your room, okay?”

 

“can we paint the walls?” jackson asks before shoving a nugget in his mouth. “i wanna paint cool aliens and dragons! and flowers!”

 

“we can paint the walls,” jaebum chuckles, ruffling jackson’s hair. “jinyoung and i can help you two -- we’ll get the paints.”

 

“we can’t use ours?” jackson says curiously, tilting his head and thinking back to the small crayola watercolor palette that he _may_ have stolen from a caregiver.

 

“those aren’t strong enough to paint the wall,” jinyoung says, sneaking a few extra fries onto mark’s, cooing when the younger grins at him. “and when we buy paints, there’s _so_ many different colors. if you want it to be blue, for example, there’s _so_ many blues to choose from!”

 

“cool,” jackson breathes out before drinking his apple juice. “what color do ya want, markie?”

 

“light blue,” mark says around the fries he shoved in his mouth. he chews and swallows, before restating, “light blue. that’s a pretty color.”

 

“light blue it is,” jaebum hums. “and we’ll get colors for the aliens and dragons and flowers, okay?”

 

mark and jackson nod, and soon, they all finish their food. jinyoung throws away the trash, and jaebum says, “let’s get you two in a bath, okay?”

 

mark and jackson follow jaebum to the bathroom as jinyoung goes to get them some clothes. the two watch as jaebum turns on the water, filling up the bathtub and making sure it’s warm before plugging in the stopper. as soon as the bathtub’s full, he turns off the water and turns to the kids, and he notices mark’s suddenly hesitant stature, and he says gently, “hey, c’mere.”

 

they go over to jaebum, who bends down and holds their hands. “we won’t hurt you,” he whispers. “you liked us when we visited, yeah? where we ever mean or hurtful?” when they shake their heads _no_ , jaebum continues, directing his words more towards mark, “we won’t change our attitudes here, either. we’re not whoever you’re thinking of, mark. we want to keep the two of you safe.”

 

“but i get scared sometimes,” mark whimpers, clenching his fists. “i-i know you’re nice, but ‘m scared. then i can’t breathe.”

 

“hey, hey, it’s fine,” jaebum says. “you know, jinyoungie’s like that, too. not exactly like you, but he doesn’t like it when there’s super loud noises or if someone pretends to hit him. and i get that, too, not often -- it’s called _anxiety_. it’s a big word, but i want you to be able to accept it, okay?”

 

mark nods, and jaebum turns to jackson, whispering, “and mister wooyoung told me about how you always want to protect mark -- that’s really great of you, and i’m proud. you can continue with that, but i want you to know that i won’t hurt you or him, okay?”

 

“okay,” jackson smiles, and they hug jaebum, the older rubbing their backs gently. “mister jaebum… can we call you appa?”

 

jaebum grins and pulls away, kissing their foreheads. “of course you can. do you have a name for jinyoung?”

 

“papa,” mark smiles. “w-we -- we called you guys that to ourselves, but we were scared to call you that in front of you.”

 

“we don’t mind at all; in fact, we’re really happy,” jaebum coos, ruffling mark’s hair. “but you can take your time -- if you feel the need to just call us by ‘jaebum’ or ‘jinyoung’ for a while at first and slowly start saying appa and papa, that’s fine.

 

“but now,” jaebum says dramatically, “we need you two to get washed! we can’t have sweaty little monsters running around the house!”

 

jaebum turns and looks for something in the cabinet. he grabs it and turns back around to see jackson and mark sitting across from each other in the bathtub, giggling as they splash water at one another. he smiles and sits down in front of the tub, holding up the bath bomb in his hand and says, “you know what this is?”

 

mark and jackson stare at it curiously, and jaebum explains, “it’s a bath bomb. you put it in water and it dissolves into pretty colors and has nice oils and all. it’s a bubble bath but more colorful and fun. this one’s intergalactic -- it’s _space_.”

 

“whoa,” mark whispers, and they watch as jaebum drops the bath bomb in between them. they gasp when it starts to fizz and dissolve, the colors spreading throughout the water. mark runs his hand through the pretty blues and pinks and purples, saying, “that’s so _cool_.”

 

jaebum smiles and he grabs the shampoo they bought for the kids. he places some in his palm and lathers it through their hairs. jaebum turns when jinyoung enters and places some clothes and a towel next to the sink. he sits next to jaebum and gasps dramatically, saying, “you guys used a bath bomb?”

 

“it’s so pretty,” jackson says giddily, closing his eyes when jinyoung rolls up his sleeves and gently washes jackson’s hair as jaebum washes mark’s. “do you have more?”

 

“yes, we do,” jinyoung hums, filling a small container with water and gently pouring it over jackson’s hair. “but you can’t use it every time -- using it too often isn’t good.”

 

jinyoung grabs something from the clothes he brought and places it on the water, and jaebum washes the soap off of mark’s face. he opens his eyes carefully and grins at the bath toys. “sharks!”

 

jackson opens his eyes and grins happily as they both start to play with the toys. jinyoung and jaebum sit back and lets the boys play with the toys. jackson pretends that the sharks are eating mark’s legs, making the older boy squeal and try and kick jackson away. jinyoung hurriedly stops them before water sloshes out of the tub, and he dips his hand in the water, noticing that it’s getting cold and saying, “all right, kids, bath time’s over.”

 

mark and jackson grumble as jaebum unplugs the stopper, and jinyoung grabs the detachable shower head to wash off all the glitter on their bodies. as soon as he’s done, he helps the kids out of the tub, grabbing the towel he had placed down and wrapping it around the both of them. mark giggles when jackson tries to wiggle his way out, his head soon popping out from the towel to grin up at them. jinyoung dries them and he and jaebum dress them in their clothes quickly so they won’t get cold -- mark’s clothes seem to be just a bit baggy on him, but it’s a good enough fit right now until they can go shopping.

 

they leave the bathroom after mark and jackson brush their teeth, making sure the lights are off before quickly showing them around the house, emphasizing the location of jaebum and jinyoung’s room before showing them their own room -- it’s almost 8:00 pm, since they got called by the center around 3:30 pm. mark yawns and rubs his eyes, and he grins when they enter his and jackson’s room -- “it’s already blue!”

 

“do you like this blue?” jaebum smiles, and mark nods eagerly. “that’s great -- we’ll buy the other paints soon, then, to paint whatever you want.”

 

mark nods again and jackson comments softly, “can we put our beds together? for a while?”

 

jinyoung ruffles his hair and nods, and mark and jackson watch as jaebum and jinyoung push the beds together for them so it’s one bed. the two kids grin happily and hop onto the bed, and jaebum pulls the covers over the two, brushing mark’s hair away from his eyes. “do you two want a night light?”

 

mark looks over at jackson, who nods quickly. jinyoung grabs the night light that he had placed in the night table, plugging it into the wall and turning it on. “you know what else we can get? glow in the dark stickers -- you can put them on the ceiling, and if you want light, they glow in the dark. we can get stars.”

 

“that’d be cool,” jackson yawns, rubbing his eye sleepily. “thank you, papa.”

 

jinyoung freezes and stares at jaebum in surprise, who’s simply smiling at jackson and mark proudly. jinyoung ends up smiling as well, and he leans down to kiss jackson’s forehead. “you’re welcome, sweetheart.”

 

“and if you two get scared,” jaebum adds, kissing mark’s forehead, “you two can come by to our room -- you remember where it is, yeah? we don’t mind if you want to come by at night.”

 

“okay,” mark whispers, giggling as jinyoung leans over dramatically to press a big kiss against his cheek, jaebum doing the same to jackson. “g’night appa, g’night papa.”

 

“g’night appa, papa,” jackson mumbles, curling up against mark. jaebum and jinyoung smile softly before whispering their goodnights to the kids and leaving the room, closing the door halfway before going to their own room.

 

“they called us appa and papa,” jinyoung marvels when they’re under the covers of their own bed, curled up against one another. “oh my gosh…”

 

“they told me about it in the bathroom, when you were getting their clothes,” jaebum hums, rubbing jinyoung’s hips. “mark got anxious about us giving them a bath -- i told him how it’s called anxiety, and that it’s okay, how you and i both have our own moments of anxiety. i reassured them about how we won’t hurt them no matter what -- and jackson said that he and mark always called us appa and papa to themselves, but they were scared to say it _to us_. but they understand that they can take their time with it and can call us by our names if they need to.”

 

jinyoung smiles, leaning his forehead against jaebum’s, whispering, “hyung… we’re _parents_ now…”

 

“we sure are,” jaebum whispers back, kissing jinyoung gently. “and we’ll be good at it.”

  
(and when they wake up to mark and jackson shaking their shoulders, pouts on their faces because there’s a thunderstorm and they want cuddles, they smile immediately, pulling the two of them in between jaebum and jinyoung and wrapping their arms around their kids, content at the thought of them being _parents_.)


	2. the sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "we’re going to adopt you today — you’d like to come home with us, wouldn’t you?”
> 
> youngjae’s eyes sparkle with joy and he nods eagerly, fisting jackson’s shirt. “yes, please.”
> 
> “we’re gonna be the best brothers ever!” mark giggles, sitting next to youngjae.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> here's the second chapter uwuu they've finally adopted youngjae!  
> lil warning mark has an anxiety attack in the beginning but its nothing thats described in major detail uwu

“ _appa!_ _papa!_ markie’s crying!”

****

jinyoung jolts up from the couch and rushes upstairs to jackson and mark’s room. he bursts into the room and spots mark curled up on the bed, jackson trying to comfort him. jackson looks up with unshed tears in his eyes, whimpering, “he’s breathing really fast, papa…”

****

jinyoung hurries over to them and sits on the bed, gently pulling mark on his lap. the young boy wraps his arms around jinyoung and cries into his shoulder, and jinyoung rubs his back gently. he reaches out and pulls jackson close, gently petting his hair as jackson leans against him. 

****

jaebum hurries in, and he sits down next to jinyoung. jackson climbs onto his lap and cuddles jaebum, staring at mark worriedly. jinyoung continues to rub mark’s back, whispering, “can you focus on my heartbeat, mark? try and breathe slowly.”

****

mark hiccups, choking on his breath and jinyoung hums softly. “breathe in, sweetie. count to 3 in your head, okay? breathe in, 1, 2, 3… breathe out, 1, 2, 3…”

****

jinyoung repeats the process until mark’s breathing has slowed down, and jinyoung pets his hair until mark looks up at him. “hey, mark-ah. feeling better?”

****

mark sniffles, rubbing his eyes roughly. jinyoung pulls his hands down and wipes away mark’s tears himself, and mark mumbles, “sorry, papa.”

****

“don’t apologize, sweetheart,” jinyoung coos, kissing mark’s forehead. jaebum scoots closer so jackson can hold mark’s hand. “what happened?”

****

“had a bad dream,” mark whimpers. “thought that the scary man came back, and he was hurting me… and sseunie, too…”

****

“he’s not here anymore,” jaebum reassures gently. “whoever it is, he won’t hurt you anymore. if you ever feel like this again, same thoughts or not, come to me or papa, or get sseun to call for us like he did.”

****

mark nods and cuddles against jinyoung, sniffling, “can we watch a movie…?”

****

“mulan!” jackson gasps. “it’s our favorite movie.”

****

“mulan it is,” jaebum smiles, and he carries jackson while jinyoung picks up mark. they sit down at the couch and jaebum flips through the recordings to find mulan — maybe they had recorded every single disney movie they could find — what about it?

****

“appa, papa,” mark comments softly twenty minutes into the movie. “can we … get a little brother?”

****

jackson looks up at jaebum and jinyoung eagerly, and the two of them look at each other. it’s been almost about seven months since they’ve adopted mark and jackson, and… maybe they have been looking to adopt another child. jinyoung had always wanted many kids (but only five max — he didn’t want to deal with so many kids) and jaebum was hesitant at first, but he agreed because maybe he did want to have that many kids — and seeing jinyoung dote on mark and jackson definitely did away with whatever little hesitation jaebum had left.

****

“well,” jinyoung says carefully, “we… have been looking for someone else to adopt. we found this sweet little boy — his name’s youngjae, and he’s three years old. we met him a few times, and … we were planning to take you two to visit him next week.”

****

“really?” jackson gasps, and mark’s eyes sparkle with joy. “we wanna, we wanna!”

****

“okay, okay,” jaebum chuckles, rubbing jackson’s shoulder to calm him down. “but if you want to — you need to know something, okay?”

****

mark and jackson nod, and jinyoung pauses the movie before saying, “youngjae’s selectively mute. he’s spoken a few times to us, but most of the time, he uses gestures and a bit of sign language to say what he wants. he refuses to talk to anyone there besides mister wooyoung, and he talked to us a bit. so don’t push him to talk, okay?”

****

“and make sure you keep your voices down around him,” jaebum adds. “he gets scared easily by loud sounds.”

****

mark nods, a determined look on his face. “okay! we’ll be the coolest big bros  _ ever _ .”

****

“and then after you get to visit them,” jinyoung hums, kissing mark’s forehead, “we can possibly visit him even more… and then maybe we can adopt him.”

****

jackson and mark seem giddy at this, and they settle back against jaebum and jinyoung happily. jinyoung smiles at jaebum and he unpauses the movie, reaching behind the kids to intertwine his fingers with jaebum’s, the older squeezing jinyoung’s hand reassuringly.

 

* * *

****

“all right, boys, do you remember what we told you about how to act around youngjae?” jaebum asks as they walk up to the orphanage.

****

“be nice and not too loud,” mark says quietly, smiling at jaebum. “right?”

****

“that’s right,” jaebum chuckles, ruffling mark’s hair. they all enter together and jaebum talks quietly to the lady that came up to help them. mark looks around curiously, gripping jackson’s hand tightly.

****

“come on boys, let’s go find youngjae,” jinyoung prompts gently, leading the two to where he knows youngjae usually plays. he spots the little boy and goes over to him, sitting down and whispering, “hi, youngjae.”

****

youngjae looks up curiously before he smiles widely, waving at jinyoung happily. he spots jackson and mark and shrinks back immediately, hugging his sun plushie to his chest. jinyoung reaches out carefully and, when youngjae doesn’t resist, pets his hair gently, saying, “remember when i said i have two sons? this is jackson, and that’s mark.”

****

the two wave at youngjae, who inspects them carefully, fingers digging into his plushie. they sit next to jinyoung, and youngjae shifts slightly, clutching his plushie tightly. jinyoung reaches out questioningly, and youngjae leans forward, letting jinyoung pet his hair again as jinyoung says, “they’re really nice, jae. they  _ love _ pokemon like you! jackson’s favorite is squirtle, and mark’s is pikachu. where’s your teddiursa?”

****

“you have a teddiursa?” jackson gasps softly, eyes widening. 

****

youngjae turns and grabs his plushie from behind him, placing it on his lap with his sun plushie. he pets the plushie quietly, nodding at what jackson had said. 

****

“hi, youngjae,” jaebum coos as he sits on the other side of mark. youngjae grins and waves happily. “how are you?”

****

youngjae’s eyes flit over at jackson and mark before giving jaebum a thumbs up. jaebum hums, saying, “can i hear your cute voice, jae?”   
  


youngjae points at jackson and mark, worry in his eyes, and jinyoung says gently, “they’re very nice, they won’t make fun of you. you know mark-ah has the same nervousness as you? he just has it for something else.”

****

youngjae takes a deep breath and looks up at mark, then at jackson, before whispering, “hi…”

****

“hi!” jackson grins. “your teddiursa is really cute. i can bring my squirtle next time.”

****

“and i can bring my pikachu,” mark whispers, holding out his hand. “look — i have a bracelet with pokemon charms — i have pikachu and squirtle. sseun has one, too. we can get teddiursa and get you one with them, too.”

****

youngjae’s eyes widen, and there’s some sudden sparkles in his eyes. “r-really?”

****

“yeah,” jackson giggles, none of the three boys noticing how jaebum and jinyoung were smiling at them fondly. “you can ask appa and papa!”

****

youngjae pets his teddiursa plushie, looking up at jinyoung and jaebum. “can you…?”

****

“we’ll buy you one,” jinyoung says gently, petting jackson’s hair. “how about you two play with youngjae? jaebummie and i will be right back.”

****

jinyoung and jaebum stand and go to talk to one of the workers, and mark smiles reassuringly at  youngjae, who seems much shyer now that jinyoung and jaebum are gone. “youngjae, do you have any other toys?”

****

youngjae reaches next to him and pulls over a few toys — a dinosaur, a princess doll, a prince doll, and a toy horse. he motions at the princess doll and the dinosaur, then points at himself and makes a heart. mark understands and hums, “you like the princess and dinosaur ones?”

****

youngjae smiles and nods, and jackson takes off his backpack, pulling out the toys they brought. “we have two princesses, too! their names are chuu and yves.”

****

youngjae stares at the dolls in fascination, mouth slightly open. mark reaches into the backpack and pulls out a toy dragon, saying, “their best friend is a dragon. is your dinosaur best friends with your princess?”

****

youngjae hums, hesitating before pretending to hold something and waving it in the air. jackson tilts his head before exclaiming, “a spell?”   
  


youngjae nods eagerly before pointing at the dinosaur, and then at chuu. mark catches on, gasping, “a princess cursed to be a dinosaur?”

****

the youngest of the three claps happily, excited that they understood what he meant without speaking. jackson scoots forward a bit and whispers, “can i call you jaejae?” at youngjae’s nod, he continues, “do you wanna be our brother?”

****

“sseunie!” mark gasps in surprise, and youngjae’s eyes widen comically. “don’t say it like that!”

****

“but appa and papa like him,” jackson says in confusion. “and we think you’re cool, jaejae!”

****

youngjae’s cheeks turn pink, and he hugs his plushies close. he’s silent for a while before whispering, “... i wanna.”

****

mark and jackson grin happily, and mark whispers, “can we hug you?”

****

youngjae opens his arms, and jackson and mark hug youngjae, cooing when youngjae relaxes against them. jackson nuzzles his nose against youngjae’s forehead, and mark asks, “do you like appa and papa?”

****

“... mister nyoung and mister bum are very nice,” youngjae mumbles. “and you guys are nice.”

****

“you think so?” jackson says, poking youngjae’s tummy.

****

“mhm,” youngjae hums. “you know what i mean… when i don’t talk.”

****

youngjae leans forward, grabbing the princess dolls and holding them up, looking at jackson and mark curiously. the two wiggle away and grab chuu and yves, and jackson says, “they can be best friends! chuu and yves like to give each other kisses. your princess can give kisses, too! what’s her name?”

****

youngjae looks slightly overwhelmed at the spew of information, and mark pats jackson’s thigh gently to calm his brother down. youngjae holds up his doll and mumbles, “gowon.”

****

mark smiles and makes yves kiss gowon’s cheek, making youngjae grin happily. “there!”

****

as they play, jinyoung and jaebum come back, sitting back down with the three kids. youngjae immediately crawls to jaebum and points at his lap, and jaebum picks him up gently to let him sit on his lap. “hey, jae. are you having fun?”

****

“nice,” youngjae says, wiggling happily. “mark hyung and jackson hyung are nice.”

****

“is that so?” jinyoung says, pretending to think. “i don’t know…”

****

“appa!” mark whines, hitting jinyoung’s thigh. “we’re  _ nice! _ our dolls all give each other kisses now.”

****

“is that so?” jaebum gasps, ruffling youngjae’s hair. “that’s nice. i’m glad gowon gets more love.”

****

youngjae nods and smiles shyly as jaebum gently pets his hair.

 

he likes them a lot.

 

* * *

 

they visit youngjae a few times, all four of them, and then, one day, when they enter and approach youngjae, jackson runs over and hugs him, squealing, “you’re gonna be our brother!”

****

youngjae blinks in confusion, looking at jackson before looking over his shoulder at jaebum, jinyoung, and mark. “h-huh?”

****

“well, he got to it before us,” jaebum sighs dramatically, bending down in front of youngjae. “but he’s right, jae. we’re going to adopt you today — you’d like to come home with us, wouldn’t you?”

****

youngjae’s eyes sparkle with joy and he nods eagerly, fisting jackson’s shirt. “yes, please.”

****

“we’re gonna be the best brothers ever!” mark giggles, sitting next to youngjae. “papa got you a gift, too! it’s in the car, though.”

****

youngjae smiles widely, wiggling happily. jinyoung pets his hair and coos, “mark and jackson are going to stay with you, okay? we’re going to go see mister wooyoung to sign papers.”

****

youngjae nods, and with that, jinyoung and jaebum leave the three alone to go into wooyoung’s office.

****

“hey, wooyoung hyung,” jaebum says as he and jinyoung sit in the chairs in front of wooyoung’s desk. 

****

“hey, jaebum, jinyoung,” wooyoung hums, putting down a folder on his desk. “you know the procedure — i’ll have to give you background.”

****

the two nod, and wooyoung opens the folder, saying, “first of all, i think you’ve noticed — youngjae has really bad separation anxiety. his dad left him and his mom, and then his mom abandoned him here. when he found out how kind i was to him, he got attached to me. you two are lucky that he’s calmed down about leaving me to go with you, but he figured out that being with you than here is better.

****

“he’s had frequent nightmares, like mark did and does,” wooyoung adds, shutting the folder. “he refuses to talk about it, so i never know what it’s about. of course, as you know, he’s selectively mute. he’s really scared to talk to anyone else — i’ll admit, i’m surprised at how quick he opened up to you two, and then mark and jackson. maybe he felt that comforting aura from you all. but either way, you’ve been the only ones that he’s opened up to, besides me.”

****

jinyoung smiles at this, and jaebum immediately reaches for him, wiping jinyoung’s eyes gently, knowing that there’s tears building up in them, jinyoung leans against jaebum, and wooyoung says softly, “that’s all. since this isn’t your first time adopting, there’s a few less papers to do, but there’s still many papers.”

****

“then let’s get to it,” jaebum chuckles, helping jinyoung lean forward so they can sign the papers.

****

jinyoung and jaebum leave the office with smiles on their faces, and jinyoung stops when he sees jackson and mark playing with youngjae, the youngest boy giggling as they pretend that the dinosaur is nibbling at his arm. he holds jaebum’s arm and looks up at him, whispering, “they’re already such good big brothers. youngjae’s gotten so comfortable with them.”

****

“i feel like mark would be the protective brother,” jaebum hums, watching as mark pretends to save youngjae from jackson, who’s pretending to roar and be a dinosaur. “jackson would be, too, but… i think if …”

****

“if?”

****

“i don’t want us to be thinking of adopting another kid just yet, when we just adopted youngjae,” jaebum says, “but… if he had a baby brother or sister — like a one year old? he’d be the one super protective of them. mark probably understands what youngjae’s feeling, so he connects with him more. jackson would probably have that streak of protectiveness that he had with mark.”

****

“they’re just all so cute,” jinyoung says softly, and he wipes at his eyes, taking a deep breath. “fuck, jaebummie, i just love them so much… just… i know we’ve  _ been _ parents for a while, with mark and jackson, but you know how i’ve always wanted a few kids, running around and being rascals yet cute little sweethearts…”

****

“i know,” jaebum whispers, pulling jinyoung close and kissing his forehead. “i know. and we’re going to continue being good parents for them and give them a happier life, okay?”

****

jinyoung nods, and he lets jaebum lead him to the kids. youngjae sees them and waves excitedly with both hands, whispering, “hi, mister nyoung. hi, mister bum.”

****

“hey, honey,” jaebum coos, bending down. “guess what? we finished signing the papers. you can come home with us — you’re officially part of our family.”

****

youngjae grins and makes grabby hands, and jinyoung and jaebum immediately hug him, jinyoung pressing a kiss against youngjae’s forehead. mark and jackson squeal happily and quickly help to gather youngjae’s stuff, putting it in their backpack since youngjae doesn’t have one. youngjae looks up at jinyoung and jaebum, whispering, “no jokes?”

****

“no jokes,” jaebum says, standing up with youngjae in his arms. mark and jackson hold jinyoung’s hands and they all leave, jinyoung bowing and thanking the workers quietly. they get to the car, and mark and jackson sit on either side of the backseat, letting youngjae sit in between them. jaebum and jinyoung get in and jaebum starts the car, driving back home.

****

“i think we should do what we did the first time,” jaebum grins, looking at the kids through the rearview mirror. “you kids want mcdonald’s?”

****

“ _ nuggets! _ ”

 

* * *

****

after they get home and eat and he’s shown around the house, youngjae sits on the couch shyly, watching mark and jackson play with their toys. mark turns to youngjae and holds out gowon, saying, “come play with us!”

****

youngjae slips off the couch and crawls his way over, grabbing his doll from mark and sitting down, pursing his lips. mark sees his hesitance and whispers, “if you don’t wanna, it’s okay.”

****

“no, i wanna,” youngjae says softly, fiddling with his doll.

****

“if you don’t wanna talk much, that’s also okay!” jackson reassures. “we’ll understand!”

****

youngjae smiles gratefully and grabs the toy car, making vrooming noises as he pretends that it crashes into mark’s leg. he looks up at mark hesitantly, and mark falls back dramatically, grabbing his leg and crying out, “you hurt my leg!”

****

youngjae giggles, knowing that mark’s just joking, and steers the car to hit jackson’s leg, laughing loudly when he does the same. 

****

“the big bad dinosaur’s gonna get you,” mark cries out, holding up an allosaurus, standing and pretending that it’s gonna eat youngjae. youngjae squeals and stands as well, running away from mark as jackson starts laughing from his position of laying on the floor.

****

youngjae bumps into jinyoung, and he hides behind him, giggling, “mister nyoung! help!”

****

jinyoung gasps dramatically, picking up youngjae and saying, “what’s wrong, jae?”

****

“gonna eat me!” youngjae says, pointing down at mark, who’s still holding up the allosaurus. 

****

“and what if i’m secretly also a dinosaur?” jinyoung teases, and youngjae gasps, squirming in his grip, squealing, “mister bum! help!”

****

jaebum comes out from the kitchen, raising an eyebrow at youngjae, who’s making grabby hands at jaebum and trying to get away from jinyoung’s tickles. he takes youngjae from jinyoung, noticing how mark giggles and follows them with the allosaurus still in his hand, and jaebum coos to youngjae, “are markie and jinyoungie being big scary dinosaurs?”

****

“gonna eat me,” youngjae repeats, pouting at jaebum.

****

“not on my watch,” jaebum gasps, and he goes to jackson, sitting with him and pulling him close. “i can’t let you two be taken by the dinosaurs!”

****

“i’ll save us, appa!” jackson says determinedly, standing up. “they just need kisses and they’ll be nice!”

****

“don’t get eaten!” youngjae whimpers, clinging to jaebum’s shirt, not noticing how jaebum and jinyoung are staring at him fondly at how he’s gotten a bit more comfortable with jackson and mark. 

****

jackson rushes to mark and throws his arms around him, pressing a big kiss against mark’s cheek. mark giggles and hugs jackson, saying, “thank you, sseunie, let’s get papa now!”

****

youngjae watches as jackson and mark both tackle jinyoung, who lays on the ground and lets jackson and mark kiss all over his face. jinyoung laughs and hugs the two boys, saying, “thank you, sweethearts. i won’t be a scary dinosaur anymore.”

****

the three of them go to join jaebum and youngjae, and mark hugs youngjae, giggling, “no more scary dinosaurs.”

****

“no more,” youngjae says in agreement, turning in jaebum’s lap so he can hug mark, and jackson joins in.

****

“you wanna watch a movie?” jackson asks, poking youngjae’s stomach. “do you have a favorite?”

****

“i like frozen,” youngjae mentions, not wanting to say that it’s the only one he knows about. 

****

“frozen it is,” jaebum hums, letting the kids go sit on the couch as he turns on the tv and puts on frozen. he and jinyoung sit on the couch, jackson, youngjae, and mark in between them. “and then maybe, we can watch mulan — it’s jackson and mark’s favorite movie.”

****

youngjae nods and relaxes, watching the movie peacefully. jaebum nudges jinyoung from behind the kids occasionally to nod at youngjae, who seems to have already memorized all the words to the songs and is mouthing along to them. 

****

when the movie ends and they’re halfway through mulan, youngjae begins to doze off, yawning as he rubs his eyes. jinyoung coos at him and whispers, “mark, sseun, it’s bedtime. let’s get ready for bed, okay?”

****

mark and jackson nod and they hug jaebum and youngjae goodnight before following jinyoung upstairs. jaebum turns to youngjae, whispering, “let’s put you to bed, hm?”

****

“can you carry me?” youngjae mumbles, raising his arms, and jaebum chuckles, picking him up and carrying him upstairs. 

****

jaebum takes youngjae to the bathroom, helping him brush his teeth. he takes him to where his room is, and gets out youngjae’s pajamas, helping him change into them. jaebum ruffles his hair, whispering, “remember, jaejae — jinyoung and i are two doors down, okay? and if you can’t get down there first, you can go to mark and sseun first, and they can help you before taking you to us, okay?”

****

“okay,” youngjae says, and he climbs onto his bed, letting jaebum tuck him in. “m-mister bum?”

****

“yes, honey?”

****

“i-i’m scared of… of the dark…”

****

jaebum smiles softly, kissing his forehead. “look up, youngjae.”

****

youngjae looks up and gasps softly at the stars on the ceiling, and jaebum goes to turn off the lights, and youngjae gasps louder when he sees them glow. jaebum sits next to youngjae again, saying, “we put up some glow in the dark stars in your room and in mark and jackson’s room. if you want more, i can put an actual night light if you want.”

****

“i like the stars,” youngjae smiles, and he grabs his sun plushie from the night table, hugging it close. “thank you.”

****

“you’re welcome,” jaebum says, kissing youngjae’s forehead again. “good night, sweetie.”

****

“mister bum,” youngjae calls out before jaebum leaves. “um… can mister nyoung… come read a book to me? like he did at the old home…”

****

“of course,” jaebum nods and he leaves the room, bumping into jinyoung in the hallway. “hey. youngjae wants you to read a book to him. i’ll go say good night to mark and jacks.”

****

“all right,” jinyoung hums, kissing jaebum before going into youngjae’s room. “hey, jae.”

****

“hi, mister nyoung,” youngjae yawns. “um… can you read to me?”

****

“of course i can,” jinyoung says, sitting down on the bed. “what book do you want me to read?”

****

“peach heaven!”

****

jinyoung hums and grabs the book, opening it and petting youngjae’s hair. he begins to read to the toddler, continuing to pet his hair as he makes the story more dramatic with his voice. he glances at youngjae halfway through, and smiles when he’s already fast asleep, clutching his plushie. jinyoung closes the book and sets it to the side, kissing youngjae’s forehead before standing and leaving the room.

****

he goes to his and jaebum’s room, quickly changing before joining jaebum in bed. jaebum smiles at him and kisses jinyoung, whispering, “he fell asleep?”

****

“pretty quickly,” jinyoung chuckles, relaxing when jaebum rubs his back. “he’s such a sweetheart.”

****

“i know,” jaebum agrees softly. “let’s just rest, we’ll have to be super parents in the morning.”

****

jinyoung hums and cuddles closer to jaebum, allowing himself to fall asleep. 

 

* * *

****

youngjae wakes up crying, and he hiccups softly as he looks down, grimacing at the wet spot in his pajamas and on his bed. he grips his plushie close and hops out of bed, racing out of his room and into mark and jackson’s room. he goes to the bed and shakes mark insistently, hiccuping, “hyungie, hyungie…”

****

mark’s nose scrunches up in his sleep before he wakes up slowly. he’s confused before he hears youngjae let out a sob, and he jolts up, shaking jackson awake. as soon as jackson’s awake, he turns to youngjae, getting out of bed and whispering, “what’s wrong, jae?”

****

“bad dream,” youngjae sobs, rubbing his eyes. “made a mess…”

****

“let’s go to appa and papa,” jackson says softly, and they both lead youngjae to jaebum and jinyoung’s room. jackson runs up to the bed and jumps on top of it, whispering insistently, “appa! papa! wake  _ up! _ ”

****

“sseun?” jinyoung groans, waking up and sitting up in bed. “what’s wrong?”

****

“jae had a bad dream and wet himself,” jackson whispers, and jinyoung’s suddenly wide awake, shaking jaebum until he also sits up, wide awake as soon as he registers what’s going on.

****

“all right,” jinyoung says as he and jaebum get out of bed. “sseun, come help me get new clothes for youngjae and get everything off his bed. markie, go help appa give jae a bath, okay?”

****

mark nods and leads youngjae out of the room, whispering quiet reassurances that it’s okay. jaebum follows them and when they reach the bathroom, jaebum hurriedly gets youngjae out of his clothes as mark turns on the bath and plugs in the stopper so that the water won’t drain away. once the tub’s full and it’s warm enough, mark turns it off and steps back so jaebum can get youngjae in the bath, setting his sun plushie next to the sink so it won’t get wet.

****

“do you want to talk about your dream, honey?” jaebum asks as he gently washes youngjae’s body, smiling as mark makes youngjae giggle weakly as he pretends the rubber duck is giving him kisses. 

****

“my mom was being a meanie,” youngjae whispers, and he doesn’t say anything else. mark seems to understand and he pokes youngjae’s stomach, whispering, “it’s okay, jaejae. she’s not here anymore, and appa and papa are super nice. they make me feel better after scary dreams, too. and they’re not meanies and don’t ever hurt us.”

****

youngjae smiles a bit, and he nods along to what mark said. jaebum holds youngjae’s hand, briefly marveling how small it is in his own hand, before saying, “and don’t worry about wetting the bed, okay? it’s something natural, since you were scared. don’t be afraid to tell us if that happens, okay? we don’t mind changing the bed sheets and giving you a bath.”

****

“okay,” youngjae whispers, and jinyoung and jackson come in with youngjae’s clothes in jackson’s hands. jaebum unplugs the stopper and picks youngjae up from the tub, drying him down quickly before taking the pajamas from jackson and dressing youngjae up in them. 

****

“let’s go back to bed, all of us,” jaebum starts, and youngjae lets out a cry, clinging to jaebum and whimpering, “d-don’t leave me!”

****

“we’re not going to, we won’t,” jaebum reassures, picking up youngjae and grabbing his plushie. “we’re gonna all sleep in jinyoung and i’s bed.”

****

mark and jackson follow jinyoung and jaebum to the room, and youngjae gets in the middle, mark and jackson on either side of him, and jaebum and jinyoung cuddling the kids. youngjae hides his face against mark’s chest, mumbling, “thank you, hyungies… thank you… appa and papa.”

****

jinyoung smiles brightly at jaebum when he hears this, and jaebum smiles back, petting youngjae’s hair and whispering, “you’re welcome, sweetheart, we love you.”

****

youngjae falls asleep with a small smile on his face, hugging his plushie close to his chest with content.

****

he  _ really _ likes this family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <333


	3. the moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “imagine them holding bambam,” jaebum hums, feeding jinyoung a piece of beef. “carrying him or helping him learn to walk properly…”
> 
> “oh, stop, you’re gonna make me cry about this again,” jinyoung whines softly. “i can’t wait for them to meet him…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI!!!! fnally ive finished the bambam chapter and...….. its 13k+ words long...…………………………………
> 
> but here it is!!! it's much longer this time because it also has a lot of what goes on with jjp and markjaeson, not just about bammie!!! 
> 
> lil warning bc nyoung has an anxiety attack at some point and in that part, abuse is veryyyy briefly mentioned (not by bum or to the kids, ofc) and in another part near the end when bambams adopted there the slightest mention of abuse when nyoungs talkin to yj (again, not from nyoung to yj! backstory stuff)
> 
> happy new yrs to everyone too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

youngjae looks up when he hears jinyoung’s phone ring, and he stands, checking the phone. he sees “wooyoung” and smiles immediately — it must be mister wooyoung! he remembers how to open a phone and he decides to answer the call without telling jinyoung, putting the phone to his ear as he says, “mister wooyoung?”

****

“ _ youngjae? _ ” wooyoung says, sounding surprised before saying calmly, “ _ how are you, jae? _ ”

****

“i’m good!” youngjae giggles, forgetting to go and find jinyoung to give him the phone. “happy.”

****

“ _ you like it with your appa and papa and hyungs? _ ” 

****

“mhm. super nice.”

****

“ _ that’s great, sweetheart, _ ” wooyoung chuckles. “ _ jae, can you give the phone to your papa? i need to talk to him. _ ”

****

“... i’m not gonna leave, right?” youngjae asks softly, fear creeping into his voice. “g-gonna stay?”

****

“ _ you’re staying, jae, don’t worry, _ ” wooyoung quickly reassures. “ _ your appa and papa and hyungs love you very much, they’d fight me before they’d let me take you. _ ”

****

“so… new brother?”

****

wooyoung stays silent for a while before he whispers, “ _ yes, but don’t tell papa until after i talk to him, okay? there’s a little baby boy — he needs a home. he’s one year old, and his mama can’t take care of him anymore. your appa and papa said they were okay with having a baby in the family so i wanted to see if they’d like to adopt him. his name is bambam. _ ”

****

“like the flintstones,” youngjae gasps softly, already going upstairs to jinyoung and jaebum’s room. “cool! okay. i’ma give you to papa. bye bye, mister wooyoung.”

****

youngjae peeks into the room and sees jinyoung folding laundry, and he calls out, “papa? mister wooyoung called. he wantsta talk.”

****

“thank you, honey,” jinyoung coos, going to youngjae and taking the phone from him, kissing his forehead. “did you tell him hello?”

****

“mhm!”

****

“that’s good. go play with sseun and i’ll come right after i finish talking with mister wooyoung, okay?”

****

youngjae nods and he races out of the room. jinyoung smiles softly before placing the phone between his ear and shoulder, going back to folding laundry. “hey, hyung.”

****

“ _ hi, jinyoung-ah, _ ” wooyoung says. “ _ so you know how i put you and jaebum down if a young baby was put through the orphanage? _ ”

****

“yeah,” jinyoung frowns, setting aside mark’s shirts and standing up, properly holding his phone against his ear. it’s been quite a few months since they had requested for this, as they had done it a few weeks after adopting youngjae, knowing that not many babies go through that orphanage and keeping just a sliver of hope. “what about it?”

****

“ _ so a mother came to us, saying she was unable to take care of her baby and that she’d love to keep him, but she just can’t,”  _ wooyoung explains. “ _ you were up on our list — third ones, actually. the first two, they backed out — both said now isn’t a good time for them. but you and jaebum…? _ ”

****

“we’d love to,” jinyoung breathes out, eyes sparkling with joy. “what — what’s the baby’s name?”

****

“ _ his name is bambam. he’s thai. _ ”

****

“bambam… how old is he?”

****

“ _ just turned one two weeks ago, actually. he has some struggles with speaking and all — he hasn’t said his first words yet. but they did a check up with a doctor, and they said that there isn’t anything wrong as far as they can find. he’s just a bit behind. he’s an absolute sweetheart, he’s a really giggly baby, but he’s also whiny if he doesn’t get cuddles and whatnot. _ ”

****

jinyoung smiles softly, already growing a bit fond at the description of the baby already. “he sounds adorable…”

****

“ _ he is, _ ” wooyoung chuckles. “ _ of course, i can’t say much more unless we meet in person and you and jaebum both decide to adopt him — but i understand if you’re unable to, taking care of three kids can be a bit of a hassle…” _

****

“no, no,” jinyoung gasps, shaking his head even though he knows wooyoung can’t see him. “this — we’ve wanted this for a while, hyung, to be able to adopt a baby or newborn. just… i’ll talk to jaebum about it when he comes back, and i’ll call back with an answer, okay?”

****

“ _ that’s fine, jinyoung-ah _ ,” wooyoung chuckles. “ _ say hello to mark and jackson for me, okay? have a nice day _ .”

****

“i will, you too,” jinyoung says before hanging up. he smiles to himself as he puts his phone in his pocket. he picks up mark and jackson’s clothes and goes to their room to find jackson and youngjae playing on mark’s 3ds. “hey, boys. mister wooyoung says hi, jackson.”

****

“what did mister wooyoung want, papa?” youngjae asks, looking up at jinyoung. 

****

“he just needs to talk about something with me and your appa,” jinyoung hums, but when he looks at youngjae, he sees his eyes sparkling, and he figures that wooyoung might’ve told youngjae about potentially getting a baby brother. “but there’s nothing bad with you two or mark, okay?”

****

“okay, papa,” jackson says, turning back to the 3ds and continuing to play his pokemon game. “when’s appa and markie coming back home?”

****

“markie’s therapy’s gonna be done in half an hour and then they’ll come home,” jinyoung says as he starts to put away jackson and mark’s clothes. “do you want me to make lunch or should appa bring us lunch?”

****

“want kfc,” youngjae whispers, looking up at jackson fearfully in case he disagrees. however, jackson nods eagerly, saying, “yeah! i want chicken, too!”

****

“all right,” jinyoung chuckles, pulling out his phone and calling jaebum. when jaebum picks up, he puts him on speaker and places the phone on the bed, saying, “hey, hyung.”

****

“hey, honey,” jaebum whispers, and jinyoung can hear mark talking in the background. “what’s up?”

****

“the kids want kfc for lunch,” jinyoung says, hanging up jackson’s hoodie in the closet. “can you get some on your way back?”

****

“of course,” jaebum chuckles. “am i on speaker?”

****

“mhm.”

****

“sseun, jae,” jaebum says, and he snorts when jackson shouts a response. “not so loud, sseun. is there anything specific you two want, or should i just get a bucket of drumsticks?”

****

“hot wings,” youngjae says softly, glancing at jackson before quickly saying, “f-for me and markie!”

****

“it’s okay, jaejae,” jackson says, thinking to himself. “can i get the chicken tenders? and we can all have fries!”

****

“all right,” jaebum chuckles. “jinyoungie, babe? what about you?”

****

jinyoung rolls his eyes when jackson says, “eww”, and he says, “i’ll take some hot wings, too. if you’re gonna get that bucket of spicy drumsticks, i’ll share that with you instead. just make sure not to get coleslaw.”

****

“all right,” jaebum says. “so hot wings, chicken tenders, spicy drumsticks, and a bunch of fries. i’ll get the 8 pieces for both the hot wings and tenders, so that you kids can share, okay?”

****

“okay, appa,” jackson says, looking back at his game. “thank you, appa.”

****

“you’re welcome, hon’,” jaebum says. “i’m gonna go now — miss sooyoung needs me to interact with mark. i’ll be home in about an hour. love you guys.”

****

“love you, too,” youngjae and jackson chorus, and jinyoung calls out, “love you, we’ll see you soon.”

****

jaebum hangs up, and youngjae immediately clings to jackson, whining, “sorry, hyungie! forgot you don’t like spicy things…”

****

“it’s okay, jae,” jackson says, patting youngjae’s head. “besides, i can’t eat all 8 pieces myself! i’m gonna share with you and markie. i’ll eat maybe one hot wing.”

****

youngjae smiles with relief, and jinyoung coos at them, saying, “okay, sweethearts, how about you both go downstairs? i’ll finish putting away youngjae’s clothes and join you two, okay?”

****

jackson and youngjae nod and rush downstairs, and jinyoung shakes his head fondly before going back to his room to get youngjae’s clothes.

 

* * *

****

an hour or so later, jaebum comes in with mark, bags of food in his hands. jackson shouts with joy and he and youngjae scramble up, following mark to the table. jinyoung chuckles before going up to jaebum, kissing him gently before whispering, “hey, hyung.”

****

“hey,” jaebum smiles. “what’s up?”

****

“wooyoung hyung called,” jinyoung says, but he adds quickly, “don’t worry about it right now — after lunch, not around the kids. it’s not about them, though.”

****

realization dawns on jaebum, and jinyoung grabs one of the bags and whispers, “not now. in a little bit, okay?”

****

jaebum nods, and he and jinyoung join the kids at the table. jinyoung smiles when he sees that they’ve already placed plates on the table, and he and jaebum distribute the food for the kids before sitting down.

****

“so, markie,” jinyoung says, chuckling at how jackson scrunch up his nose when he bites into a hot wing that youngjae handed him. he hands jackson a few napkins for when he needs to blow his nose and continues, “how was today? everything okay at your session?”

****

“it was okay,” mark says, biting into his hot wing. “miss sooyoung taught me how to stay calm if i’m alone. i’m not good at it, but i’m still workin’ on it.”

****

“that’s really good, markeu,” jinyoung smiles at him. “i’m proud, you’re doing well.”

****

mark smiles shyly at him and jackson and youngjae talk about their day to jaebum before they all finish their food and throw away their trash.

****

before jinyoung can go talk to jaebum, mark comes up to him, sitting jinyoung down in a chair and whispering, “papa? can i ask you something?”

****

“what is it, honey?” jinyoung frowns, picking mark up to sit him in the chair next to him.

****

“um… can…,” mark clears his throat and fiddles with his fingers. “can boys… wear dresses, too?”

****

jinyoung blinks and breathes a quiet sigh of relief at the fact that it’s not something drastic. he smiles at mark reassuringly, saying, “of course they can, mark. it’s just that, some parents aren’t very open about it and don’t let their sons wear them. appa and i don’t really mind about that kind of stuff.”

****

“so…,” mark starts hopefully, “can… can i g-get a dress?”

****

jinyoung’s smile softens and he strokes mark’s cheek, whispering, “of course you can. this weekend, i’ll take you to go buy one or two or however many you want.”

****

“just one for now,” mark mumbles, looking up at jinyoung. “blue.”

****

“we’ll definitely get you a blue one, then,” jinyoung nods, and he whispers quietly to mark, “i’m really proud that you managed to tell me what you wanted. you did good, markie, okay? and you can always ask about this kind of stuff, appa and i are open about all of this.”

****

“okay, thank you, papa,” mark smiles with relief, hugging jinyoung tightly before hopping off his chair and running over to where jackson and youngjae are playing. 

****

jinyoung stands, calling out to mark to to make sure nothing happens for a few minutes before going upstairs to his room to find jaebum changing into his sweatpants and college shirt. he turns and smiles at jinyoung, sitting back on the bed and patting the spot next to him. jinyoung sits next to jaebum, curling up against him and saying, “mark wants a dress.”

****

“oh?” jaebum hums, rubbing jinyoung’s arm. “is that so?”

****

“yeah,” jinyoung says, playing with jaebum’s shirt. “he asked if boys can wear dresses, and then if he can get a dress. i promised i’d take him this weekend to get one, he wants a blue dress.”

****

“that’s cute,” jaebum smiles, letting jinyoung hold his hand. “i’m glad he felt confident enough to ask.”

****

“so am i.” jinyoung shifts slightly before saying, “but, wooyoung called today.”

****

“what did he want?”

****

“a mom came in, unable to take care of her son,” jinyoung explains. “wooyoung called the first two families on the waiting list — they’re unable to, so we were next. i told him that i’d discuss with you first. the baby sounds like an absolute sweetheart — he just turned one, his name’s bambam and he’s thai. apparently, he hasn’t spoken his first words yet, but the doctor said that there isn’t anything wrong, he’s probably just a stubborn baby or a late-bloomer. he’s really giggly and clingy.”

****

“oh, he  _ does _ sound adorable,” jaebum sighs fondly. “well — i’m all for it, if you’d like to adopt him. do you believe that we can handle it?”

****

“i know we can,” jinyoung says, looking up at jaebum. “but — do you think it’s too soon? or no?”

****

“well, it’s been about 6 months since we adopted youngjae,” jaebum muses, “and it was 7 months after adopting mark and sseun that we adopted youngjae. we’re not doing it _ just _ because we just want more and more kids — we also want to give them better homes and make them happier. that’s exactly what we did and are doing with mark, sseun, and jae. with bambam, we’d be adopting him to reassure the mother that he’ll get a good home and that he’ll grow up well and safe.”

****

“you’re right,” jinyoung sighs, watching as jaebum rubs jinyoung’s knuckles with his thumb. he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, shooting wooyoung a text telling him that they’re willing to go and meet the baby and talk to wooyoung and the mother about adopting him. he sets his phone down and turns back to jaebum, mumbling, “we still need to talk to the boys about this. i’m pretty sure youngjae knows — he picked up the phone for me before he came up and gave it to me, and i’m pretty sure he would have been afraid that something would happen to him, so wooyoung might have given in and told him.”

****

“i wouldn’t doubt it,” jaebum says, sitting up and pulling jinyoung up with him. “i don’t think mark and sseun would mind —  _ gosh _ , sseun would probably love to be able to play around with a baby.”

****

jinyoung looks up at the ceiling, blinking repeatedly to keep back his tears. jaebum coos at him and cups his cheeks, kissing jinyoung before mumbling against his lips, “i know — i know this is what you’ve wanted, to be able to care for all these kids. you’ve done really well this whole time, you’re a really good parent.” 

****

“you are, too,” jinyoung insists, lips brushing against jaebum’s. “don’t think that i’m just the only one, okay? the kids  _ really _ love and appreciate you as well.”

****

jaebum smiles softly, stroking jinyoung’s cheek gently. “thank you, jirongie. let’s go back downstairs to the boys, yeah?”

****

“yeah,” jinyoung smiles back, the two of them standing up to go to their boys. “let’s see if they made a mess.”

 

* * *

****

jinyoung and jaebum walk into wooyoung’s office, bowing politely to the young woman sitting in one of the chairs in front of wooyoung’s desk. she smiles back at them, rubbing the baby in her arm’s back. 

****

jaebum and jinyoung sit down and wooyoung smiles at them, saying, “this is the mother i told you about. again, she’s thai, but — she goes by ms. kim here, so please refer to her as that instead of ms. bhuwakul.”

****

“of course,” jaebum says, smiling at ms. kim reassuringly.

****

“hello,” ms. kim says in accented korean. “wooyoung-ssi said you’re very nice. and you have kids.”

****

“we do,” jinyoung hums, holding jaebum’s hand. “we have three sons — one’s four and a half, the second is four, and the third is three. we’re also really open about who we adopt.”

****

“he hasn’t spoken yet,” ms. kim says, gently tugging down the baby’s scarf to stroke the baby’s cheek. the baby’s eyes flutter open and blink up at ms. kim, and bambam smiles up at her, giggling as he squirms in her grip. jinyoung can feel jaebum squeeze his hand and he stifles his laughter — he knows that jaebum’s always had a weak spot for babies. “that’s okay?”

****

“that’s okay,” jaebum reassures. “our oldest and youngest, mark and youngjae, both have anxiety — kind of bad, really. mark’s going to therapy now because he agreed to it and he needed it. our middle, jackson, just has random anger outbursts, but that’s okay, we still love him. even if your son can’t speak yet, it’s okay — youngjae doesn’t speak very much, he’s selectively mute. we don’t mind at all.”

 

ms. kim smiles and glances at wooyoung, who says, “ms. kim’s just very worried that bambam won’t grow up in a good environment after her — but i’ve reassured her with all of what you said and more. hearing you say it was just more confirmation for her.”

****

“would you like to see him?” ms. kim says softly, and jaebum and jinyoung glance at each other before nodding. ms. kim hands bambam over to jinyoung, who coos gently and carefully holds bambam in his arms. “he’s very … touchy. and he laughs a lot, he’s a sweetheart.”

****

bambam looks up at jinyoung, and he grins widely before squealing, reaching up and grabbing jinyoung’s nose. jinyoung chuckles and goes cross-eyed for bambam’s amusement, and it works, as bambam screeches even louder with joy. bambam lets go and looks over at jaebum, blinking at him curiously.

****

jaebum holds his breath — he  _ loves _ babies, they’re so adorable, but somehow some always seem afraid of him. bambam, however, clearly doesn’t, as he reaches out to hold onto jaebum’s finger and stare up at him in fascination. jaebum’s breath hitches —  _ babies are so cute _ . you know when babies are just so small and adorable and look at you with their wide eyes, and you just have the urge to squish them? that’s  _ exactly _ how jaebum’s feeling right now with bambam.

****

“he’s adorable,” jaebum mumbles, moving his finger so that bambam’s hand also moves, smiling when bambam giggles in surprise, other hand clinging to jinyoung’s shirt. “jinyoungie…,”

****

“i know, i know, he’s really cute,” jinyoung chuckles. he looks up at ms. kim and smiles at her, directing his words at wooyoung, “when can we…?”

****

“a few more meetings, of course, to make sure ms. kim is content with you two adopting bambam and if bambam continues to have these happy reactions around you,” wooyoung says with a smile. “and of course — we need for mark, sseun, and jae to come meet bambam once it gets that far.”

****

jaebum gently takes bambam from jinyoung and let’s him stand on his thighs — one of bambam’s hands fist jaebum’s shirt as the other grabs jaebum’s nose, screeching as he bounces on jaebum’s lap. jaebum chuckles and pats bambam’s back, cooing, “aren’t you a little cutie?”

****

“so,” jinyoung says, ruffling bambam’s hair, “have you two… met with another couple?”

****

“yes,” ms. kim says, and jinyoung’s stomach drops until she continues, “bammie didn’t like them. he almost cried, which was funny. he’s very … affectionate? when he likes people and it takes a while for him to like people. so this is nice.”

****

jaebum smiles with relief, cooing when bambam’s hand moves from his nose to pat his cheek insistently. “what’s wrong, bambam?”

****

bambam babbles at him and keeps patting his cheek, and jaebum starts chuckling at how insistent he is. ms. kim chuckles at him and says, “he does that if he wants to give a kiss and get a kiss.”

****

“may i, though…?” jaebum says worriedly, afraid he’d be pushing it. ms. kim nods and jaebum hesitantly leans his face forward, and bambam squeals, leaning forward as well and smacking a big kiss against jaebum’s cheek. with another reassuring nod from ms. kim, jaebum kisses bambam’s cheek, and bambam laughs loudly, jumping on jaebum’s thighs again. “oh, you’re so  _ adorable _ …”

****

bambam reaches out, shifting so that the hand clinging onto jaebum’s shirt reaches out to jinyoung and his free hand clinging to jaebum’s shirt. jinyoung leans forward and lets bambam also smack a kiss against his cheek. he leans back and blinks in surprise when bambam whines loudly, bouncing on jaebum’s thighs and opening and closing his hand insistently. jinyoung smiles softly and leans forward, kissing bambam’s cheek and laughing when bambam smiles cutely at him in satisfaction. 

****

jaebum gently passes bambam back to ms. kim when she motions for him, and ms. kim kisses bambam’s forehead, saying, “wooyoung-ssi? i think they’re really nice…”

****

jinyoung smiles hopefully, reaching out to hold jaebum’s hand and squeezing it. wooyoung smiles at ms. kim, saying, “so the other couple is a definite no?”

 

ms. kim nods, and wooyoung says, “all right. so, jinyoung, jaebum — of course, again, more meetings are necessary as i mentioned. since ms. kim decided that you’re a better fit, in a sense, for bambam than the other couple, then we can just go ahead with letting you two become more familiar with bambam and then letting the boys visit a few times. we can continue the adoption process and have it all signed in a few months time.”

****

“that sounds perfect,” jaebum smiles, squeezing jinyoung’s hand. “thank you, both of you.”

 

* * *

****

“appa!” 

****

youngjae tackles jaebum’s legs, and jaebum laughs, picking up youngjae and kissing his nose. “what’s wrong, honey?”

****

“jonghyunnie and markie are being dinos again!” youngjae squeals, clinging to jaebum and waving at jinyoung happily, giggling as jinyoung kisses his forehead. “scary!”

****

“oh?” jinyoung chuckles as he and jaebum walk into the living room with youngjae still in jaebum’s arms. jonghyun and mark run up to them, and jinyoung bends down, saying, “what are you rascals doing, being scary dinosaurs?”

****

“minho asked me to be a dino!” jonghyun laughs, but his expression falters as he says, “did i scare youngjae?”

****

mark gasps and youngjae squirms in jaebum’s arms, squeaking, “no! it’s okay! it was just pretend, i’m not actually scared.”

****

mark and jonghyun sigh in relief and jaebum lets youngjae down, smiling when he lets mark and jonghyun lead him back to the living room to join kibum and jackson. jaebum and jinyoung follow them and jinki stands immediately, going up to them and saying, “how was it?”

****

“jaebum loves him already,” jinyoung chuckles, and jinki giggles as jaebum hits jinyoung’s arm playfully. “in all seriousness — he’s an absolute sweetheart. apparently, they met another couple before us, and bambam really didn’t like them, but he warmed up to us immediately. his mother decided that we’re a good fit — wooyoung had already talked to her about us. so we’re going to keep meeting with them for the next few months and eventually bring in the boys, and then finalize the process.”

****

“oh, that’s great,” jinki gasps, hugging jinyoung and grinning at jaebum. “i’m so happy for you guys. i know you’ve wanted so many kids, jinyoungie, i’m happy for you.”

****

jaebum opens his mouth to reply, but he looks down when jackson and minho run up to him. he bends down and kisses jackson’s forehead and high fives minho, saying, “hey, kids. jacks, were you and mark and jae good for uncle jinki and uncle kibum?”   


 

“yes, appa!” jackson says, smiling up at him. “where’d ya go? what did mister wooyoung want?”

****

“you’ll see soon, angel, not now,” jaebum chuckles, kissing his forehead again before standing up and smiling at kibum, who had approached them. “were they actual angels?”

****

“sweethearts,” kibum reassures, reaching down to ruffle minho’s hair. “they ate their lunch and watched disney movies while doing art.

****

“but i heard from mark, he said something to me,” kibum adds, lowering his voice. “maybe it’s cause he knows i design clothes, but — he asked about what kind of dress would be pretty on him?”

****

jaebum hums, watching as minho and jackson go back to the others. “he asked jinyoungie two days ago after his session if boys can wear dresses, and if he can get one. of course, we’re okay with it, and he said he wanted a light blue one. jinyoung’s gonna take him the day after tomorrow to the mall so they can find a dress, but also some other clothes for the boys.”

****

“oh, i’m glad he gathered enough courage to ask,” kibum smiled. “i agreed that light blue would be adorable on him. he was so excited.”

****

jaebum nods and jinki and kibum quickly get jonghyun and minho — the two kids wave goodbye to mark, jackson, and youngjae. mark and jonghyun hug briefly and jinki and kibum lead the two kids out, wishing jaebum and jinyoung luck before leaving.

****

the kids go back to their artwork, jackson unpausing the movie (right now, it seems to be tangled). jaebum smiles at jinyoung, whispering, “we’re doing good.”

****

“yeah,” jinyoung says back, “we are.”

 

* * *

****

jinyoung takes a deep breath and insistently tugs jaebum into the kitchen, and jaebum follows him with a frown, whispering, “jinyoungie? jinyoungie? what’s wrong?”

****

jaebum’s not quite sure what’s wrong — he just knows that jinyoung’s supposed to be leaving soon with mark to go shopping. as soon as he sees jinyoung clutch the kitchen counter and try to calm his breathing, however, jaebum suddenly understands. he pats jinyoung’s cheek, whispering, “baby? jinyoungie, did you take your meds today?”

****

jinyoung shakes his head and jaebum quickly goes to the cabinet where jinyoung’s anxiety medication is. he gets out two pills and hands them to jinyoung with a bottle of water, and jinyoung quickly downs the medication. he takes a deep breath, jaebum rubbing his shoulders gently to keep him calm. “you’re okay, baby. you’re doing so good. keep taking deep breaths.”

****

“papa?” 

****

jaebum turns his head quickly, seeing mark standing outside the kitchen with wide eyes. “appa? is papa okay? wh-what did he take?”

****

“he’s okay, hold on, markie,” jaebum whispers — he  _ really  _ can’t afford mark to also having an anxiety attack. “jinyoungie, keep taking deep breaths, baby, you’re fine. whatever or whoever you’re thinking of, it’s not real or here, okay?”

****

jinyoung eventually calms down and slumps back against the counter, picking up his water bottle shakily and drinking some water shakily. jaebum motions mark over and he bends down in front of him, whispering, “it’s okay, markie. don’t worry about papa.”

****

“did papa take pills?” mark asks, and jaebum’s surprised when mark tears up when he nods in confirmation. “n-no!  _ bad! _ ”

****

“why, sweetie?”

****

“my … my dad kept taking pills and it was bad,” mark hiccups. “don’t want papa to be like that…”

****

“oh, no, no, honey,” jaebum says, petting mark’s hair. “it’s not like that. these pills, they’re to help papa with his anxiety. i help make sure he doesn’t take more than he needs to.”

****

“promise?” mark whispers, and jaebum nods, saying, “i promise.”

****

jinyoung moves so that he’s sitting in front of mark, and jaebum sits properly on the floor with him, pulling mark down so he’s also sitting. “markie,” jinyoung says, holding mark’s hand. “i’m sorry you had to see that—”

****

“we don’t have to go out today, papa,” mark interjects, looking up at jinyoung with a pout. “i can wait until tomorrow. don’t want you to be tired outside.”

****

“no, i’ll be fine,” jinyoung says, avoiding jaebum’s stern gaze. “i’ll just need an extra hour or two, and we can still go.”

****

“why do you have an— anxi— anxiety?” mark asks quietly, afraid that he’d get scolded. 

****

jaebum sighs, patting jinyoung’s thigh — they don’t really have to worry about jackson or youngjae interrupting, since they were just put down for naps. “want me to go first, nyoung?”

****

jinyoung nods, and jaebum hums, holding jinyoung’s hand as he explains to mark gently, “my anxiety, mark-ah… it kind of rose up like how yours did, sweetie. my old appa, he wasn’t very nice to me and my eomma. i always noticed that he hit my eomma and i saw a lot of their fights. he scared me a lot, and he hit me a few times, too. my eomma eventually divorced him, and my new appa is much nicer to me.”

****

mark’s eyes widen slightly with every sentence, and he whimpers out, “s-so grandpa -- he’s your new appa?”

****

“mhm,” jaebum hums, rubbing his thumb over jinyoung’s knuckles. “he’s very nice to me and my eomma. and you saw how nice he was to you and your brothers. my old appa made me really scared, and so i became very anxious with older authorities, like how you get scared with big men. it’s gotten better, but it’s still there sometimes, especially when i have to present something to my boss.”

****

mark makes a small sound and he frowns determinedly, saying, “i’ll fight ‘em, appa, even if i’m scared! i’ll fight ‘em for you.”

****

“thank you, sweetheart,” jaebum chuckles, and he turns to jinyoung, squeezing his hand reassuringly as he whispers, “are you up for telling mark?”

****

“yeah,” jinyoung sighs, gripping jaebum’s hand before looking up, meeting mark’s curious gaze. “so… i had a very bad boyfriend. he wasn’t very nice to me, at all.”

****

“but appa’s your husband,” mark frowns. “and appa had to be your boyfriend first. but appa’s nice?”

****

“it wasn’t appa, it was a boyfriend before him,” jinyoung explains. “he hit me a lot — that’s why appa explained to you that i get scared when people pretend to hit me or raise their voices at me. i left him and i eventually started dating jaebum, but he kept following us… jaebum took care of it, back then. he’s pretty much gone now.”

****

mark looks ready to cry, and jaebum and jinyoung hug him quickly. jinyoung kisses mark’s forehead, whispering, “i’m fine now, honey, he isn’t… he isn’t bothering me. i have your appa to protect me.”

****

mark nods and he huffs at jaebum, saying, “you better be protecting papa!”

****

“don’t worry, i am,” jaebum reassures, ruffling mark’s hair. “but i’m gonna need  _ you _ to protect papa for right now — do  _ not _ let him try to convince you to go shopping right now. let him relax for a bit on the couch and watch a movie first, i don’t want papa going out all tired like this.”

****

“yes, appa!” mark nods, and he looks at jinyoung, saying, “c’mon, papa! i’ll put a movie.”

****

“all right, sweetie, i’ll be there in a little bit,” jinyoung says softly. “do you want some chips? juice?”

****

“apple juice and chips, please?”

****

“all right,” jinyoung says, kissing mark’s forehead. “go ahead, i’ll be right there.”

****

mark stands and rushes out of the kitchen, and jaebum immediately turns to jinyoung, asking, “you sounded different when talking about your ex. what happened?”

****

“... he texted me from a new number,  _ again _ ,” jinyoung mumbles. “i thought the police took care of him, but i think he managed to get another number…”

****

“can i see the text, jinyoungie?” jaebum asks gently, and jinyoung pulls out his phone, handing it to jaebum, who looks at the notification of the text and reads it. he takes a deep breath and pulls out his own phone, taking a picture of the text before pocketing his phone again. he opens the text and jinyoung watches as he blocks the number before handing him his phone again. “i’m going to contact shownu about this and make sure that he gets the other police to do something  _ again _ about your ex.”

****

“okay,” jinyoung says, letting jaebum help him stand up. “okay. thank you, hyung, i appreciate it.”

****

“of course, honey,” jaebum says with a smile, leaning forward and kissing jinyoung gently. he pulls away and continues to smile when jinyoung leans against him. “now, you go sit with mark and eat a snack and watch a movie with him. please do  _ not _ try and get up to go shopping with mark until the movie is over so you can be calmed completely, okay? i would say to wait until tomorrow, but i know you’d fight back because mark’s been excited for this.”

****

“thanks,” jinyoung chuckles, turning and gently getting out of jaebum’s grip to go get the bag of chips and a juice box. when he gets the things he needs, he turns and kisses jaebum, mumbling, “thank you, again.”

****

“no problem, honey,” jaebum says. “i’m going upstairs — the kids will probably still be asleep by the time that the movie is over and you two leave, so you can just relax with mark, okay?”

****

jinyoung nods and jaebum goes upstairs after giving jinyoung one last kiss. jinyoung takes the chips and the juice box and goes to sit with mark. mark smiles up at him and cuddles against him, saying, “i already started — sorry, papa. i also skipped forward ‘cause i didn’t want me or you to be sad ‘cause of tadashi.”

****

jinyoung chuckles when he realizes they’re watching big hero 6, and he opens the bag of chips, handing mark his juice box. mark grins happily and puts the straw through the box, sipping his juice and wiggling with joy as jinyoung hugs him close. 

****

they eat half of the big bag of chips by the end of the movie, and jinyoung stretches, ruffling mark’s hair. “hey, markeu. are you still up for going and getting a dress today?”

****

mark sits up eagerly and nods, but he falters and adds, “but… are you gonna be okay, papa? do you promise?”

****

“yes, i’ll be fine,” jinyoung reassures. “go put on your shoes and i’ll put on mine, okay?”

****

“okay!” mark says, rushing to the shoe rack near the door and grabbing his shoes and jinyoung’s shoes, running back and smiling at jinyoung as he hands him his shoes. “here, papa, i found your shoes over there, too!”

****

“oh, thank you, sweetie,” jinyoung chuckles, putting on his shoes — he’s glad that he and mark had already put on their socks. he stands and goes to get his wallet and keys, making sure that his phone is in his pocket. he goes to the stairs and he calls up the stairs, “jaebummie, i’m gonna go now with mark.”

****

“okay, stay safe, love you both,” jaebum calls back, and jinyoung smiles when mark calls out that he loves him too before they leave. they get in the car and jinyoung starts it up, driving them to the mall, smiling as mark wiggles in his seat excitedly.

****

when they get to the mall, jinyoung leads mark into the department store, grabbing a cart and making sure that mark’s holding his hand. 

****

“papa,” mark says shyly, and jinyoung looks down at him curiously. “um… can we get clothes for sseun and jae first? and um, some shirts for me?”

****

“of course, honey,” jinyoung agrees with a smile. he and mark go around the store, jinyoung letting mark choose the clothes he thinks would be good for jackson and youngjae. jinyoung thinks it’s adorable how mark keeps gravitating to pokemon themed clothing for his brothers. he lets him pile all the clothing into the cart, only taking out select clothings if he knows it won’t fit the boys and there isn’t another size. jinyoung makes sure that he adds in some shirts for mark — he continuously asks mark if he wants every new shirt that he holds up, not wanting to add shirts that mark may not want. mark seems to like the simple shirts with a plain color and simplistic art on it; he seemed to really like the blue shirt jinyoung found with a shark at the bottom of the shirt. 

****

“you wanna look for your dress now, honey?” jinyoung says quietly after he also got some clothes for him and jaebum, and mark nods eagerly, gripping jinyoung’s hand as he leads him to the dresses section. 

****

“papa,” mark mumbles, and jinyoung looks down again. “i-if someone asks why we’re buying a dress… can we say it’s for my twin sister?”

****

jinyoung smiles grimly and ruffles mark’s hair, knowing that he isn’t feeling super confident just yet to put his interest in dresses outside of the house. “if that’s what you’d like, sweetheart.”

****

mark nods insistently and he and jinyoung look around to find a dress that mark would like. there weren’t a lot of light blue dresses, and jinyoung can feel mark’s excitement slowly diminishing. however, in the corner of his eye, he spots something light blue, and he pushes the cart and pulls mark with him gently as he goes to the dress, picking it up and holding it up to mark. “is this good, sweetheart?”

****

mark gasps, eyes sparkling — the dress was a very light blue dress, a ribbon below the ‘bust’ of the dress. there were very  _ very _ thin stripes on the dress that they’re barely noticeable. it’s simple, but mark’s staring at it like it’s his favorite thing in the world. “i  _ love it _ , papa!”

****

“that’s great, ‘cause it seems to be in a size that would probably fit you,” jinyoung hums as he checks the size. he places it in the cart and says, “let’s go buy all of this and then eat lunch, okay?”

****

mark nods happily and they go to the checkout, mark waiting patiently as jinyoung pays for everything. mark takes the bag with his shirts and dress and eagerly follows jinyoung to the food court.

****

soon, they’re seated at a table, jinyoung eating orange chicken lo mein as mark swings his legs happily while he eats his jr. cheeseburger and fries. mark continuously shares his fries with jinyoung and he opens his mouth wide every time jinyoung offers him a piece of chicken. 

****

“papa,” mark says, sipping from his juice box before setting it down. “jaejae said that mister wooyoung called, what did he want? is that where you went when uncle jinki and uncle kibummie took care of us?”

****

jinyoung sighs, knowing that mark is a  _ very _ observant kid for his age, and that there wouldn’t be a point in lying to him. besides — jinyoung’s too excited to keep it in to himself. “well…”

****

“are we getting a baby brother?” 

****

jinyoung blinks and then he smiles with a nod, saying, “yeah, you are. how’d you know?”

****

“i kinda figured it out,” mark shrugs, popping some fries in his mouth. “also, jae apparently told sseun, who told me today. i didn’t know if he misheard or if jaejae was joking.”

****

“well, he wasn’t,” jinyoung says. “and before you ask — youngjae picked up the phone before me and talked to mister wooyoung, and i think he told him — probably because youngjae could’ve gotten panicky that they were gonna take him from us. but yes, we’ve met the baby and we’re going to meet with him and his mother a few more times before letting you and your brothers see him.”

****

“what’s his name?” mark asks, buzzing with curiosity. “is he korean like jae? or from hong kong like sseun or taiwan like me?”

****

“he’s from thailand,” jinyoung chuckles. “he just turned one a few weeks ago, but he’s a little bit behind. he hasn’t said his first words yet and he’s barely starting to walk.”

****

“is something wrong with him?” mark frowns in worry — he doesn’t want his new little brother to be hurting or anything. “is he okay?”

****

“the doctor said that he’s fine, he’s just a late bloomer,” jinyoung reassures. “his name’s bambam.”

****

“like the flintstones!” mark exclaims, eyes sparkling. “that’s  _ cool! _ ”

****

“i know,” jinyoung says, feeding mark another piece of chicken. “but he’s kind of a smaller baby — not  _ too _ small, but you’d need to be careful whenever you meet him, okay?”

****

“okay,” mark says with a smile. soon, they finish their food and throw away their trash, and mark now also holds the bags full of food for jackson, youngjae, and jaebum. they go and get in the car, driving home, mark buzzing excitedly in his seat, excited to try on his dress. 

 

* * *

****

once they get home, mark sets the food down on the table and runs upstairs to try on his dress. jinyoung laughs and goes to jaebum, kissing him and whispering, “hey, hyung. we got you guys food, you and the kids can eat. markie got his dress, so he’s putting it on right now. and also, he knows about bambam. wooyoung really did tell youngjae, ‘cause he then told jackson, who told mark.”   


 

“ little rascals,” jaebum chuckles, picking up the bags of food that mark set down. “i guess we’ll have to tell them while me and the kids eat. jackson, youngjae! put down your things, it’s time for lunch.”

****

jackson and youngjae immediately put down their toys and they wave at jinyoung eagerly before sitting at the table. jaebum puts the food in front of jackson and youngjae, and jinyoung turns when he hears a little, “papa…?”

****

jinyoung grins widely when he sees mark in his dress. he bends down and opens his arms, and mark rushes over, hugging him tightly and mumbling, “thank you, papa. it’s really pretty…”

****

“and you look really pretty, too,” jinyoung hums. “c’mon, let’s show appa and your brothers, hm?”

****

mark takes a deep breath and nods, and jinyoung smooths his hair down and stands, holding mark’s hand and leading him to the table, saying, “guys, mark wants to show off his new outfit.”

****

jackson and youngjae turn in their seats, and youngjae gasps loudly as jackson exclaims, “it’s pretty, markie! you look like princess chuu!”

****

mark’s hesitance immediately diminishes and he grins widely at them, letting go of jinyoung’s hand and sitting in the chair next to youngjae, who grins at him and says, “hyung’s pretty!”

****

“thank you,” mark says shyly, looking over at jaebum.

****

“it looks really pretty on you, sweetheart,” jaebum agrees, sitting down in his chair and smiling at mark. “i think pink would also look pretty on you.”

****

“can i… tie up my hair?” mark mumbles, glancing over at jinyoung, who still hasn’t sat down yet. “i-it’s okay if i can’t!”

****

“of course you can, it just might be really tiny,” jinyoung coos and he goes upstairs to find some hair ties he knows are hidden somewhere in his bathroom. when he comes back downstairs, he sees mark happily explaining how he got jackson and youngjae anything pokemon that he could find, and he makes eye contact with jaebum, who smiles at him before turning his attention back to the kids.

****

“do you want little pigtails, mark?” jinyoung asks gently, and mark nods eagerly, settling down contently in his chair as jinyoung carefully ties two tiny pigtails on the top of mark’s head. “so cute~.”

****

mark grins happily and jinyoung goes to sit next to jaebum, smiling at him and whispering, “should we officially tell them?”

****

jaebum swallows his rice and nods, whispering back, “you should tell them, you were super excited for this.”

****

jinyoung’s smile widens and he looks at the kids, who were still talking animatedly to each other. “boys?”

****

the kids look at him and jinyoung can’t help but feel giddy. “a little birdie told me that youngjae told jackson who then told the birdie that mister wooyoung said we were going to adopt a baby boy. you’re not in trouble, jae, don’t worry,” jinyoung adds when youngjae blushes. “but — you’re right. we’re going to adopt a baby boy, you’re going to all be big brothers.”

****

jackson and youngjae grin happily and mark beams at the official confirmation. “when can we see him, i wanna see him!” jackson squeals, bouncing in his seat. 

****

“his name’s bambam, he’s thai, and your papa and i have to have a few more meetings with his mom before we can let you guys see him,” jaebum says, smiling at jinyoung. “i think that by mid june, you three can meet him. hopefully at the end of june, we can adopt him. he’s an absolute sweetheart, i’m sure you’ll all love him.”

****

youngjae wiggles in his seat happily and he and jackson quickly finish their food, thanking jinyoung before running back to the living room, mark following them with a skip in his step. 

****

“you’re matching with princess chuu,” jaebum and jinyoung hear youngjae exclaim, and jinyoung holds in his laugh when mark squeals with joy, assuming that mark’s hugging the doll tightly.

****

“i’m really glad that mark’s comfortable in the dress, even if it’s just in the house for now,” jinyoung smiles, leaning his head on jaebum’s shoulder. “he was  _ so  _ excited when he saw the dress, and he was even more excited when i mentioned bambam to him.”

****

“imagine them holding bambam,” jaebum hums, feeding jinyoung a piece of beef. “carrying him or helping him learn to walk properly…”

****

“oh, stop, you’re gonna make me cry about this  _ again _ ,” jinyoung whines softly. “i can’t wait for them to meet him…”

 

* * *

****

sure enough, three weeks later, jinyoung and jaebum are taking mark, jackson, and youngjae to see wooyoung and meet ms. kim and bambam. 

****

when jinyoung opens the door, the kids rush in and immediately surround wooyoung, clambering up on him and making him laugh as he tries to fit them all on his lap. “hey, kids.”

****

“hi, mister wooyoung,” the three kids chorus, and they immediately launch into stories of how they’ve been — wooyoung nods along eagerly, and he encourages mark when he shyly mentions that he got a dress, and when youngjae proudly claims that he doesn’t wet his bed as often anymore.

****

jinyoung and jaebum nod politely to ms. kim, who smiles at them and watches the three boys in amusement. jinyoung and jaebum sit down and the boys hop off wooyoung’s lap and join them happily. mark sees bambam and gasps softly, patting jackson and youngjae’s thighs and whispering, “look! the baby!”

****

jackson and youngjae stare in awe, and ms. kim gets up to sit in front of the boys, who slide down and sit on the floor with her. she turns bambam around and bambam looks up, seeing jinyoung and jaebum and squealing with joy. she bounces him gently and coos, “bambammie, look.”

****

bambam turns so that he’s looking at the boys, and he blinks at them curiously. he wiggles and ms. kim lets him go, and bambam crawls up to jackson, who’s sitting in the middle. he stares up at him and tilts his head, and jackson tilts his head, too. bambam blinks, so does jackson — bambam giggles then jackson does, too. bambam squeals in excitement and crawls onto jackson’s lap, and jackson holds him carefully, making sure he won’t fall off his lap. bambam reaches up and grabs jackson’s nose, and jackson gasps, “my nose! oh  _ no! _ ”

****

bambam laughs at jackson’s dramatic distress and lets go, only to smack his hand against jackson’s nose. jackson cackles and grins at bambam, saying, “thank you!”

****

bambam looks over at youngjae and youngjae waves shyly. bambam watches youngjae’s hand and reaches out suddenly, grabbing youngjae’s finger and blinking at him. youngjae giggles and shakes bambam’s hand, watching as the baby’s smile widens. “cute… ah!”

 

ms. kim gasps when bambam sucks on youngjae’s finger and she gently pulls him away, apologizing to youngjae softly before giving bambam his pacifier. bambam settles down with a slight pout, but visibly cheers up when youngjae waves again.

****

bambam directs his look at mark, who stares down at him curiously. bambam grins and reaches up, squealing from behind his pacifier and making grabby hands. ms. kim nods encouragingly at mark and mark hesitantly picks up bambam, holding him in his arms and letting ms. kim adjust his grip. bambam giggles and pats mark’s cheek, then pats his own.

****

“a kiss, mark,” jinyoung chuckles, and mark looks up at him. “he does that whenever he wants a kiss.”

****

mark looks at ms. kim, who nods, and mark presses a kiss against bambam’s chubby cheek, and bambam squeals with joy. he tugs on mark’s hair, and mark winces before leaning down and letting bambam kiss his own cheek (really, it was more of him hitting his pacifier against mark's cheek). bambam pats the spot he tugged on and suckles on his pacifier contently.

****

“cute…,” mark mumbles, smiling at bambam. “you’re cute. appa, papa, he’s really cute.”

****

“isn’t he?” jaebum coos as jackson takes bambam from mark, sitting him down in front of him and youngjae and tickling his tummy. bambam squeals and kicks out, trying to squirm away from jackson’s tickles. “he’s a very affectionate baby if he likes you.”

****

“so he likes us!” jackson grins, helping bambam sit back up when he almost falls onto his back from laughing. “that’s cool.”

****

jinyoung slips down from his seat so he can join the kids on the floor. he gently picks up bambam and stands him up, smiling when bambam’s legs wobble slightly before bambam giggles at him, holding onto jinyoung’s fingers. youngjae shifts so he’s next to jinyoung, and bambam giggles at him, letting go of one jinyoung’s fingers to reach out for youngjae, who grins and lets bambam hold onto two of youngjae’s fingers.

 

ms. kim smiles at the small interactions, and she strokes bambam’s hair gently. she looks up at wooyoung and hums, “he likes them a lot.”

****

“i can tell,” wooyoung chuckles, watching as youngjae plays with bambam’s hand happily. “boys, isn’t bam-ah a cutie?”

****

“he’s squishy,” youngjae giggles as bambam squeezes youngjae’s fingers. “i like him!”

****

“we do, too!” jackson grins, and he sticks out his tongue at bambam when he looks at him. “cute.”

****

“i think there’ll be two more meetings that may need to take place,” wooyoung hums, looking over at ms. kim, who nods. “during those two meetings — you can bring the boys over again, and they can play with bambam as me, ms. kim, and you two can discuss paperwork and sign them off.”

****

“that sounds perfect,” jaebum agrees softly, smiling when mark leans against his leg. he strokes mark’s hair gently and says, “that sounds great. thank you, both of you.”

 

* * *

****

the next two visits go well, with the boys playing happily with bambam as jaebum and jinyoung sign papers with ms. kim. on the second meeting, bambam giggles happily as he crawls around the room, being blocked by the boys constantly so he wouldn’t bump into something. 

****

“i’m gonna get you, bammie!” mark says dramatically, crawling after bambam and making the younger boy squeal loudly. 

****

“you can’t come this way, bambam!” jackson gasps dramatically as he blocks bambam’s path. bambam blinks up at him curiously, and he giggles before turning right around and crawling to youngjae. “bammie! come back!”

****

“c’mere, bammie,” youngjae laughs, and he grins as bambam crawls right to him. he places bambam on his lap and he says, “i’ll keep you safe!”

****

bambam curls up against youngjae, suckling on his pacifier happily, content to have cuddles. mark and jackson join them and let bambam play with some toys. 

****

soon, jaebum, jinyoung, and ms. kim join them on the floor. youngjae lets ms. kim take bambam in her arms, and she kisses bambam’s forehead, whispering something in thai to bambam. she kisses his forehead again and whispers, “be good for mama, okay? jaebum and jinyoung will be your new papas and you’re gonna have nice brothers. i love you, bammie.”

****

youngjae looks down and turns to jaebum, who hums and places youngjae on his lap, rubbing his back and making a mental note to ask him what’s wrong later. 

****

bambam looks at ms. kim and squishes her cheeks with a big grin on his face. ms. kim smiles softly and kisses his nose, taking a deep breath and mumbling, “mama loves you, okay? be good.”

 

ms. kim hugs bambam again before gently passing him to jaebum, and jackson and mark quietly take the two backpacks full of bambam’s things. she strokes bambam’s hair with a tiny smile and jaebum whispers, “i know it’s rough. but we’re going to take good care of him, okay? i promise.”

 

ms. kim nods and thanks him gently, and jaebum glances at jinyoung, who motions for him to leave. jaebum understands that jinyoung wants to talk to ms. kim alone, with only wooyoung being the other person in the room, so he whispers, “c’mon, boys, let’s go wait for papa outside. hey, bammie, can you give your mama a kiss?”

****

jaebum pulls out bambam’s pacifier, and he demonstrates how to blow a kiss. bambam stares at his hand and presses it against his mouth before holding it out with a grin. “lo’e mama!”

 

ms. kim tears up at the sound of bambam’s first words flowing from his mouth, and jaebum bends down, letting ms. kim hurry over and kiss bambam’s cheeks, sniffling, “i love you, too, sweetie. mama’s gotta go, but mama loves you lots.”

****

“lo’e mama,” bambam says determinedly, little hand patting ms. kim’s cheek. ms. kim smiles and rubs his little hand before nodding at jaebum, and jaebum stands and mumbles, “c’mon, kids.”

****

jaebum opens the door and the boys leave quietly, and jaebum smiles softly at ms. kim, and bam grins at her as well before they leave the room, door shutting with a soft click. ms. kim immediately takes a deep breath and jinyoung scoots closer, holding her hands and gently rubbing her knuckles. “it’s okay, deep breath.”

****

“ms. kim,” wooyoung says gently, getting up and sitting on the floor with jinyoung and ms. kim. “i know it’s difficult, but you did it with good intentions, yes?”

 

ms. kim nods, and jinyoung whispers, “hey. you heard jaebum — we’re going to take good care of bambam, okay? we won’t hurt him at all, we just want to give him a good life. and we know you love him  _ very _ much, and that you let us adopt him because you trust that we’ll continue giving him the same amount of love.”

****

jinyoung gently pulls ms. kim into a hug when tears start streaming down her cheeks. he strokes her hair gently, and he makes eye contact with wooyoung, who’s rubbing her back reassuringly. “ms. kim — i know bambam won’t ever hate you for this. did you hear him? he said his  _ first words _ , and they were  _ for  _ you,  _ about _ you. his first words were him saying he  _ loves _ you. i’m not sure if he understands the situation completely — he is a baby, after all — but he clearly understood your distress. he kept patting your face in an attempt to stop that frown, and, again, he said his first words  _ just for you _ .”

 

ms. kim leans back and looks up at jinyoung, whispering, “promise you’ll take good care of him.”

****

“i promise we will,” jinyoung says, holding ms. kim’s hands again. “if you want, you can always come and visit.”

****

“r-really?” ms. kim gasps softly, and wooyoung tilts his head curiously at jinyoung.

****

“most adopters wouldn’t really offer that,” wooyoung chuckles, still rubbing ms. kim’s back.

****

“and i’m not most adopters,” jinyoung says with a smile. he squeezes ms. kim’s hand reassuringly, adding, “you had the best intentions for bambam. it’s obvious you care for him and that if you had the ability, you would’ve kept him. but you’re  _ strong _ for being able to do this, and i know you loved him very much. if you’d like, you can definitely come and visit us to be with bambam for a while. and whatever your preference is — every weekend, every other weekend, every month… whatever you want.”

****

“thank you, thank you,  _ thank you _ ,” ms. kim sniffles with a smile. “i’ll — i’ll try to keep up with that offer. but next year, i think i’ll be moving back to thailand… but i’ll be making constant visits over. so when i visit, could i still…?”

****

“of course, for however long you want.”

****

“i’ll probably only be able to for maybe two years,” ms. kim mumbles. “i at least… want to see him grow up into a toddler. i don’t think i’ll be able to bare with the rest.”

****

“that’s fine,” jinyoung says as he stands, and he and wooyoung help ms. kim stand up. “and if you end up being unable to come visit, or you decide it’ll be too much to bare, then let us know, okay? that’s fine, too.”

****

“thank you,” ms. kim whispers. “i really appreciate it.”

****

“of course, just let me know what you decide,” jinyoung says. “and even if you decide you don’t want to visit because you don’t want it to hurt more, that’s fine. either way, you have jaebum and i’s numbers, and you can let us know. either way, we’ll raise him well, okay?”

****

“okay,” ms. kim says, nodding and taking a deep breath. “thank you again,  _ so _ much. take care of my sweet boy.”

****

“we will.” jinyoung pats her shoulder. “thank you for trusting us.”

****

jinyoung nods his head at wooyoung and pats his back, smiling at the both of them and thanking them again before quietly leaving the room. youngjae immediately runs up to him and jinyoung picks him up with a smile, whispering, “hey, jaejae. ready to go home?”

****

youngjae nods and leans his head against jinyoung’s shoulder. jinyoung purses his lips and rubs youngjae’s back, looking at jaebum, who shrugs and bounces bambam in his arm. jinyoung hums and holds mark’s hand, and jaebum holds jackson’s hand as they leave the building. they go to the car (and jinyoung’s  _ glad _ that they have a van along with their car, ‘cause now there would’ve been no space), and jaebum straps bambam to his carseat. jackson sits next to bambam and mark sits in the back with youngjae. as they drive home, jinyoung continuously glances behind him, frowning softly as he sees youngjae curled up against mark, the older whispering to him and hugging him close.

****

when they get home, jackson grabs the two backpacks as jaebum gets bambam out of his car seat. mark and youngjae get out, and as soon as jinyoung unlocks the door, mark takes youngjae’s hand and leads him inside, the two of them immediately cuddling on the couch. 

****

“bummie, honey,” jinyoung whispers, “can you take sseun up with you as you get bambam settled and changed? i’ll talk to youngjae and mark.”

****

“okay,” jaebum says, kissing jinyoung briefly before pulling away and saying, “c’mon, sseun, wanna help me choose bammie’s outfit to change into?”

****

“yeah!”

****

jackson runs upstairs with jaebum right behind him, bambam still in his arms. jinyoung goes and sits next to youngjae, and mark looks up at him, whispering, “youngjae remembered some stuff and now he feels yucky.”

****

“oh, sweetheart,” jinyoung coos softly, pulling youngjae onto his lap and letting mark cuddle close. “can you talk about it, sunshine?”

****

youngjae looks over at mark, who nods encouragingly at youngjae. the younger takes a deep breath and plays with jinyoung’s shirt. youngjae points upstairs and motions at his hair, letting his hands flow down in continuous motions. jinyoung furrows his brows — youngjae doesn’t use actual sign language, so jinyoung thinks before saying carefully, “bammie’s mom?”

****

youngjae nods and points at himself.

****

“your mom?”

****

another nod. youngjae points back upstairs then back at his lips before making the talking motion with his hand, pointing back at himself. jinyoung furrows his brows further before he lets out a soft, “oh. oh, did your mom say the same thing to you before leaving…?”

****

youngjae sniffles and nods, rubbing his eyes. he does the hair motion again before pointing at himself. makes the talking motion. points at himself, then does a heart.

****

“she always said she loved you?”

****

a nod. youngjae hesitates. hand brought up, then back down really fast, points at himself. 

****

jinyoung feels his throat constrict and he whispers, “did she hit you, sunshine?”

****

a nod. 

****

jinyoung takes a deep breath and hugs youngjae tightly, rocking them gently and stroking his hair, whispering, “i’m so sorry, baby. it’s okay, you’re safe here, okay? you won’t get hurt here anymore. and bammie’s mom, she never hurt him. she doesn’t have the money and everything to take care of him good enough, but she loves him very much.”

****

youngjae looks up at jinyoung. he looks over at the stairs and back at jinyoung, and jinyoung whispers, “we love him, too. he won’t be hurt, you won’t be hurt, mark and sseun won’t be hurt. and your mom… i know that she wasn’t very nice. but look at you now — you’re here with us, happy and safe.”

****

“your mom isn’t gonna hurt you anymore, jaejae,” mark says softly, rubbing youngjae’s shoulder. “we’re all gonna protect you ‘cause we actually love you. you said it yourself when you first came — your mom was a meanie. but appa and papa are very nice to us.”

****

youngjae takes a deep breath and nods. he looks at jinyoung and points at him before making a heart. jinyoung smiles softly and kisses youngjae’s cheek, whispering, “i love you, too, angel.” he kisses the top of mark’s head, whispering, “and i love you, too. i love all of you.”

****

“we love you, too, papa,” mark says with a smile, cuddling jinyoung and holding youngjae’s hand. “‘cause you make us super happy and safe.”

****

jinyoung’s smile widens and he hugs them both a little tighter, fondness seeping through him. “i’m glad.”

****

meanwhile, upstairs, jackson studies bambam’s clothes with a much too serious expression. jaebum chuckles as he changes bambam (and goodness is he glad that ms. kim taught both him and jinyoung how because he would’ve been  _ so _ confused), and he says, “sseun, there’s no special occasion. we can just let him wear his pajamas if you want.”

****

“i helped with choosin’ cute stuff for the baby bed so now i gotta choose the cute clothes!” jackson huffs, referring to the sheets and toys for bambam’s crib. “please, appa?”

****

“okay, angel, but hurry, we don’t want li’l bammie here to get cold,” jaebum says, tickling bambam’s tummy and grinning when the baby squeals and squirms.

****

“i think he should wear overalls!” jackson decides determinedly, picking up the overalls. “and then… the striped shirt!”

****

“that sounds like a good idea,” jaebum agrees, and he gently dresses bambam up in his clothes. “look at you, you could be a fashion designer if you want.”

****

“really?” jackson gasps with a grin, and he seems giddy at the idea. “cool!”

****

jaebum chuckles and puts socks on bambam’s feet before picking him up. he places a pacifier in bambam’s mouth and he ruffles jackson’s hair and says, “come on, let’s go downstairs.”

****

“appa, jaejae was upset,” jackson says softly. “when bambam’s mommy was telling bammie she loves him, he got really upset. i think it was ‘cause of his own mommy.”

****

“i noticed,” jaebum sighs. “your papa’s talking to him and markie right now. let’s go check on them, yeah?”

****

jackson nods and goes downstairs, jaebum following him while bouncing bambam in his arms gently. jackson gasps when he sees jinyoung cuddling youngjae and mark, running over and jumping on the couch, whining, “i want cuddles, too!”

****

youngjae giggles at jackson’s outburst, and he holds jackson’s hand as jackson curls up against jinyoung. mark makes space so jaebum can sit next to him, and he smiles at bambam, holding his hand and giggling, “hi, bammie.”

****

bambam suckles on his pacifier and smiles at mark. he looks over at youngjae and he whines, reaching out for him. youngjae looks at him and leans forward, and bambam pats his cheek with another whine. youngjae giggles softly, and he lets bambam grip his finger, moving his hand in a waving motion. 

****

jinyoung glances at jaebum and he nods slightly at youngjae, motioning to his mouth, and jaebum nods in understanding, realizing youngjae would rather not speak right now. jaebum strokes youngjae’s hair and asks gently, “are you feeling better, jaejae?”

****

youngjae nods and keeps playing with bambam’s hand, smiling when bambam giggles happily. jaebum keeps stroking youngjae’s hair, cooing at how youngjae relaxes with content.

****

“what do you boys want to eat for dinner?” jinyoung coos, squishing jackson’s cheeks. “you guys want spaghetti?”

****

“yeah!” jackson nods, and mark and youngjae nod in agreement. “spaghetti is good.”

****

“and we can make special mac and cheese for bammie,” jaebum chuckles, bouncing bambam in his lap. 

****

“why special?” mark asks curiously, looking up at jaebum. 

****

“well, bambam here really loves mac and cheese,” jaebum says, patting bambam’s tummy. “we found that out during one of our early meetings, when he needed to eat some lunch.”

****

jaebum gently places bambam down on the play mat on the ground, and mark immediately joins him on the floor. jinyoung pats youngjae’s back gently and he says, “can you boys take care of bammie while we make some food? it won’t be too long, maybe 10 minutes, okay?”

****

jackson nods and joins mark and bambam on the floor. youngjae, however, clings to jinyoung and looks up at him with a pout. jinyoung strokes his hair, saying gently, “you don’t wanna stay with bammie?”

****

youngjae points at bambam and makes a heart, then points at jinyoung and jaebum, fisting jinyoung’s shirt. jinyoung hums softly, asking, “you love bammie, but you still wanna stay with appa and papa in the kitchen?”

****

youngjae nods with a nervous smile, and jaebum hums, “what if i stay with you, bammie, and your hyungs? do you just want one of us with you, or would you still like to be in the kitchen?”

****

youngjae thinks for a while before nodding, tugging at jaebum’s hand and pointing at mark, jackson, and bambam. jaebum chuckles as he kisses jinyoung quickly before letting youngjae pull him onto the floor. jinyoung stands and goes to the kitchen to cook the food as jaebum plays with the kids.

****

bambam sits happily, watching as mark and jackson show him their toys. he sucks on his pacifier curiously as mark shows him the cars and drives them around bambam, making him giggle happily. youngjae grabs bambam’s star plushie and holds it out, and bambam squeals, grabbing it and hugging it happily.

****

jaebum gently pulls bambam into the middle of the play mat so if he falls backwards — like he always does when he’s excited, he always seems to fall on his back and squeal with laughter — he wouldn’t hit his head on the ground. bambam looks up at jaebum and babbles at him from behind his pacifier, and jaebum pets his hair, cooing, “aren’t you adorable…”

****

“why didn’t we get mcdonald’s like when me and markie came, and when jaejae came?” jackson asks curiously, looking at jaebum.

****

“we would’ve, but bammie isn’t able to eat those kinds of food yet,” jaebum hums, gently tugging out bambam’s pacifier and holding it up to get bambam to open his mouth. “see? he doesn’t have a lot of teeth yet, so it’s hard for him to eat things like chicken nuggets. he can’t chew on it very well because he doesn’t have all of his teeth.”

****

“is he gonna cry a lot?” mark whispers, tilting his head. “don’t babies cry when their teeth grow?”

****

“they do,” jaebum says, gently pulling down bambam’s bottom lip. “look — he only has these two teeth and the ones on top. over the next few months, he’ll grow more, but i’m sure he’ll be less fussy over time.”

****

bambam whines and tries to suck on jaebum’s fingers, and jaebum chuckles as he gently pushes bambam’s pacifier back in his mouth. “if he tries to suck on something that’s not his pacifier, give him his pacifier or one of his toys for teething — i’ll show them to you guys, okay? do  _ not _ let him chew on things like the car toys.”

****

“yes, appa,” mark hums with a nod. mark, jackson, and youngjae all play with bambam as jaebum watches carefully to make sure bambam doesn’t accidentally get hurt. youngjae scoots over so that he’s behind bambam, so that whenever bambam falls backwards, his head can come in contact with youngjae’s legs instead of the floor. 

****

soon, jinyoung calls out that dinner’s ready, and jaebum ushers for the boys to go to the table as he picks up bambam, petting his hair as he goes to the table as well. he gets the high chair they bought for bambam (honestly, he never knew babies had so many expensive needs, but it really is worth it) and he places bambam in the chair gently, strapping him in the chair and making sure he’s secure. he puts the bib around bambam’s neck carefully before going to help jinyoung with the food.

****

youngjae looks up at bambam and reaches up, holding bambam’s hand and giggling when bambam plays with youngjae’s fingers. jinyoung and jaebum come over with plates of spaghetti for them — jinyoung goes back to the kitchen and gets bambam’s own bowl of mac and cheese. jaebum helps jackson and mark mix their spaghetti with their meatballs and sauce, and jinyoung helps youngjae with his. 

****

jinyoung carefully mixes bambam’s mac and cheese, and he chuckles as bambam looks at the food with sparkles in his eyes. jinyoung gently takes out his pacifier and starts to feed bambam, making sure it doesn’t spill out of his mouth. 

****

“papa,” youngjae mumbles quietly, and jinyoung looks at youngjae, curious to hear what he wants to say, since he decided not to use hand signals. “you should eat.”

****

“i will, sunshine,” jinyoung coos, reaching out to ruffle youngjae’s hair. “i just need to make sure bambam eats, he hasn’t started to understand how to use things like spoons.”

****

“oh, okay,” youngjae says, turning back to his food and starting to eat. 

****

jinyoung chuckles and continues to feed bambam — he’s glad that bambam isn’t much of a messy baby, he thinks to himself as he grabs a napkin and gently wipes the cheese off from the corner of bambam’s mouth. mark and jackson talk to each other as they eat their food, giggling as they keep getting sauce on their cheeks.

****

jinyoung and jaebum make eye contact and they smile at each other; jaebum nods at jinyoung’s food, and jinyoung nods reassuringly, turning back to bambam and feeding him the rest of his food. once bambam’s food is all eaten, jinyoung wipes his mouth and hands him his sippy cup full of water. jinyoung ruffles his hair as bambam drinks his water and he turns to his own food, finally starting to eat.

****

“appa, papa,” mark pipes up, pursing his lips and looking up at them shyly. “c-can i wear my dress tomorrow?”

****

“you can wear whatever you want, sweetheart,” jinyoung says encouragingly, smiling at mark. “you don’t have to ask us if you want to wear it.”

****

“okay,” mark says with a grin, turning back to his food happily, and jaebum snorts when he hears jackson whisper loudly, “ _ i told you! _ ”

****

when they all finish their food, jaebum puts all the plates in the sink as jinyoung picks up bambam, cooing, “let’s get you in the bath, hm? jaejae, c’mon, i’m giving you a bath, too.”

****

youngjae nods and runs upstairs to his room. bambam grabs jinyoung’s nose as jinyoung walks them upstairs, and jinyoung gasps dramatically, shaking his head insistently as he says, “oh no! my nose!”   


 

bambam giggles loudly and says, “lo’e!”

****

jinyoung smiles softly as they go into youngjae’s room, and he gasps when youngjae almost runs into him. “are you okay, sunshine?”

****

“mhm!” youngjae nods, and he holds up his clothes. “got my clothes.”

****

“all right, let’s go get bammie’s stuff now, yeah?” jinyoung says, and they go to bambam’s room. jinyoung moves to get bambam’s clothes, but youngjae immediately goes to the drawers, grabbing a onesie and a diaper from one of the drawers. “oh, thank you, jae!”

****

“you’re welcome, papa,” youngjae hums happily, and he follows jinyoung to one of the bathrooms. they pass by jaebum, mark, and jackson, and youngjae squeaks when jackson pokes his tummy. “sseunnie, stop!”

****

jackson laughs and rushes after jaebum and mark. youngjae huffs as he follows jinyoung, who chuckles and ruffles youngjae’s hair. they go into the bathroom and jinyoung takes out the baby bath, and he hums, “jae, sunshine, can you put this in the bathtub?”

****

“what is this?” youngjae asks curiously, putting his and bambam’s clothes next to the sink. he grabs the baby bath and puts it in the bathtub, asking again, “wha’s this?”

****

“bammie’s a little too young to be in the bathtub,” jinyoung hums as he gets bambam out of his clothes, taking out his pacifier and tickling his tummy and smiling when bambam giggles. “by this age,  _ usually _ babies would start to be in the tub. but he’s a little small and his mama didn’t start to transfer him to the tub. so we still keep him in this baby bath so he can get used to it and eventually sit in the tub.”

****

“ohh,” youngjae awes in understanding, watching as jinyoung places bambam in the baby bath carefully. youngjae comes over when jinyoung motions for him to come over, and jinyoung turns on the water, putting in the stopper. he keeps his eyes on bambam as he helps youngjae take off his clothes, and he whispers, “jaejae, i’m sorry if it looks like i’m paying attention to bam more than you. i just don’t want something bad happening to him.”

****

“s’okay, papa, i can help,” youngjae says with a grin, and when he wiggles out of his clothes, jinyoung turns off the water, deeming the tub full enough. jinyoung picks up youngjae and places him in the tub, and he puts a few bath toys in the tub.

****

“thank you, sunshine,” jinyoung coos, grabbing the small cup and placing it to the side. “when i’m washing you, i need you to watch bammie for me, okay? appa might come in to help because mark and sseun don’t take too long to take a bath.”

****

“yes, papa,” youngjae hums, and he grabs a rubber duck, squeezing it and making it squeak. bambam stops squirming and looks at youngjae curiously, blinking at the toy curiously. youngjae squeezes it again and bambam squeals with laughter when it squeaks again, making grabby hands towards it. youngjae gives it to him and laughs when bambam squeezes it, giggling, “he likes it!”

****

“oh, that’s cute,” jinyoung says with a smile, getting a dollop of shampoo and gently lathers it through bambam’s hair. “you like the ducky, bammie?”

****

bambam squeezes the duck and giggles when it squeaks loudly. jinyoung pokes bambam’s nose and coos, “so,  _ so _ cute.”

****

jinyoung carefully washes bambam’s hair, singing softly to bambam and youngjae. he turns to youngjae and says, “can you keep a close eye on bambam?”

****

“yes, papa!” youngjae nods, sitting still and making silly faces at bambam to make him giggle. 

****

soon, jaebum knocks and walks in, smiling and kneeling next to jinyoung. “hey.”

****

“hey,” jinyoung smiles. “jaejae, you don’t have to watch over bammie anymore, appa’s got it.”

****

youngjae nods and lets jinyoung continue to wash his hair. jaebum smiles down at bambam and lathers up a washcloth with body wash, starting to gently wash bambam. bambam gurgles up at him and jaebum chuckles, patting his tummy and cooing, “silly baby.”

****

“bammie, the duck!” youngjae says, closing his eyes as jinyoung pours water over his head to wash off the shampoo.

****

bambam holds up the rubber duck with a grin and squeezes it, screeching with joy as it squeaks. jaebum bursts out laughing, petting down bambam’s hair as he coos, “such a silly baby. you’re so cute.” 

****

jinyoung resumes his singing, and jaebum smiles softly, the two of them finishing up youngjae and bambam’s bath. jinyoung pulls out the stopper and lets the water drain as he picks up youngjae from the bath, quickly drying him off and kissing all over his face to get the boy to giggle shyly. 

****

jaebum gently picks bambam up from the baby bath, smiling as bambam blows a spit bubble at him. he gently wipes his mouth with a towel before drying him off. jaebum kisses jinyoung and hums, “i’ll go get him dressed and ready for bed. mark and sseun are downstairs watching a movie.”

****

jinyoung nods and jaebum takes bambam’s clothes before carrying him to his room. he gently lays bambam on the changing table and quickly starts to put him in his diaper and his onesie. bambam yawns sleepily as jaebum finishes buttoning up his onesie, and jaebum coos gently as he picks him up, slipping his pacifier in his mouth. he starts singing softly as he bounces him in his arms, walking around the room. he isn’t sure how long it’ll take for bambam to fall asleep, especially since he tends to be a more quiet baby if he isn’t distressed.

****

jaebum checks on bambam occasionally, pausing his singing and pulling back to check if bambam’s sleeping. bambam whines every time and jaebum sighs softly, continuing his singing. soon, he hears bambam’s breath even out, and he keeps singing softly as he puts bambam down in his crib. he puts the star plushie next to bambam, and he smiles as bambam hugs it and curls up, suckling his pacifier quietly. jaebum covers him with the blankets, and he hesitates, wondering if he should turn on the baby monitor. he decides against it, knowing that bambam is a loud crier and they’d wake up in a beat if bambam woke up at night. he hesitates, waiting to see if bambam wakes up, and when bambam just nuzzles against his plushie, jaebum smiles and strokes his cheek before going downstairs. he sits with jinyoung, mark, jackson, and youngjae, cooing when youngjae sits on his lap, and they all relax, watching the movie together.

****

jaebum glances over at jinyoung and holds his hand, smiling at him softly before turning back to watching the little mermaid with their boys.

 

* * *

****

jaebum jerks awake when he hears crying, trying to focus on who’s crying it is. he realizes it’s bambam’s and sits up, rubbing his eyes and getting out of bed. he glances at the clock and sighs at the time — 2:13 a.m. he yawns as he leaves the room to go to bambam’s room, quietly approaching the crib and bending down. bambam looks at him and his cries die down slowly but surely, and he grabs the bars of the crib, shakily standing as he whines at jaebum, who realizes his pacifier had fell from his mouth. 

****

jaebum carefully picks bambam up, cooing at him softly and whispering, “what’s wrong, moonlight?”

****

bambam whimpers out him, scrunching up his nose. jaebum shushes him gently and kisses his nose, patting his bottom and humming as he finds that bambam doesn’t need a change. “you just miss appa already, don’t you?”

****

bambam presses his cheek against jaebum’s shoulder, mouthing at his shirt, little hands fisting the material. jaebum coos softly and bounces bambam in his arms, pulling back carefully and gently opening bambam’s mouth. bambam immediately tries to bite on jaebum’s fingers, and jaebum snorts, saying, “are you teething? your gums must hurt… here, hold on.”

****

jaebum opens a drawer and pulls out a teething toy, and he shuts the drawer before holding up the toy, cooing, “look, bammie, it’s like a  _ watermelon _ . you can bite on this, okay?”

****

bambam takes it, fumbling a bit before starting to bite on the toy. jaebum starts pacing the room, singing different lullabies to bambam as he rubs his back gently.

****

“mama,” bambam mumbles from around the toy, looking up at jaebum, who freezes. “mama.”

****

“... your mama’s not here, baby,” jaebum whispers, stroking bambam’s cheek with his thumb to soothe him. “you live with me and papa. i’m appa, and the other nice man is your new papa.”

****

bambam furrows his eyebrows before letting the toy slip from his mouth, and jaebum winces slightly at the drool. “... ap’a?”

****

jaebum gasps softly — maybe bambam  _ was _ just a bit slow in  _ starting _ to talk, but he definitely has a good enough ability. “th-that’s right. i’m appa. and jinyoungie is  _ papa _ .”

****

“pa,” bambam murmurs, going back to biting the toy. “ap’a. pa. pa.”

****

“that’s right,” jaebum hums, rubbing bambam’s back. “and you have three hyungs — mark, jackson, and youngjae. you don’t have to say their names now…”

****

jaebum resumes his singing, a small smile on his face now as he continues pacing. soon, he feels bambam relax completely, and he checks on him, smiling when he sees bambam fast asleep. he lets his singing slip into humming as he gently pries away the teething toy from bambam’s grip and sets him down into his crib. he covers him again with the blanket and strokes his hair, whispering, “love you, bammie.”

****

he makes sure bambam’s still asleep before leaving the room, and he checks inside mark and jackson’s and youngjae’s room, breathing a sigh of relief that the boys are  _ somehow _ still asleep. he goes back to his room and slips under the covers with jinyoung, who immediately opens his eyes sleepily and mumbles, “where’d you go?”

****

“bammie woke up, he was teething,” jaebum whispers, stroking jinyoung’s hair. “he’s fast asleep now, so are the other boys. he asked for his mama… but he also managed to say ‘ap’a’ and ‘pa’.”

****

“oh…” jinyoung blinks. “oh, that’s  _ cute. _ ah, jaebummie, i  _ really _ love our little family…”

****

“so do i, nyoungie,” jaebum coos, kissing jinyoung’s forehead. “let’s go back to sleep — we’ll have a busy day in the morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3333


	4. li'l star (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yugyeom's story is coming up... he's a baby!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's yugy time.
> 
> SO UH you might have noticed that this is now 5 chapters and not 4... um so yugy's chapter just got too long and I decided that i'd just cut in half with a part 1 and part 2 :D so here's the start of yugy's story! it's mostly everyone with bammie and jjp starting the whole meeting the parents process hehe enjoy!!! <3

jinyoung chuckles as bambam grabs the edge of the coffee table, steadying himself before letting go. “c’mon, bammie, try and take more steps this time.”

****

bambam’s nose scrunches up and he starts to take a few steps towards jinyoung, who holds his hands out with a smile. bambam manages to reach jinyoung before he trips. jinyoung catches him and coos, hugging him close and kissing his cheek. “you did amazing, sweetheart.”

****

bambam grins up at him, patting jinyoung’s head before tugging lightly at his hair. jinyoung chuckles, saying, “bammie, baby, we said no pulling hair.”

****

bambam removes his hand and jinyoung smiles at him softly when bambam giggles, “papa!”

****

“that’s me, angel,” jinyoung coos, kissing bambam’s nose. “are you ready to go out, moonlight?”

****

“out?”

****

“we’re going to go on a picnic,” jinyoung hums, standing and picking bambam up. he goes upstairs, bouncing bambam gently as he says, “we’re gonna sit on a  _ big _ blanket in the park and eat some yummy food.”

****

“food!” bambam gasps excitedly, fisting jinyoung’s shirt and staring up at him with sparkles in his eyes. “food!  _ food! _ ”

****

“yes, food,” jinyoung laughs, peeking into mark and jackson’s room. he smiles when he sees mark helping youngjae change into his clothes as jackson hides from jaebum while laughing. “are you boys being good?”

****

“yes, papa!” mark calls out, helping youngjae button up his pants, and jinyoung smiles, knowing that youngjae sometimes needs a bit of help. “but appa isn’t! he’s not dressed!”

****

“ _ ooooh, _ appa’s not  _ dressed _ ,” jackson giggles like a tattle-tale in school, jumping on the bed and grinning at jinyoung. “hi, papa!”

****

“don’t jump on the bed, sweetie,” jinyoung says, and jackson jumps once more before flopping down onto his back on the bed. “bummie, why aren’t you changed?”

****

“our li’l warrior here doesn’t want to change his shirt,” jaebum chuckles, pulling jackson to the edge of the bed and quickly taking off his shirt, pushing down the collar of the new one down his head. “there we go.”

****

“well, i’m going to go change bammie,” jinyoung hums, patting bambam’s back as he turns back around to leave the room. “markie, when appa goes to change, make sure jae and sseun stay downstairs, okay? and get whatever you want to play in the car.”

****

“okay!”

****

jinyoung goes into bambam’s room, laying him down on his toddler bed carefully. “don’t move, moonlight, okay?”

****

jinyoung turns and quickly gets bambam’s change of clothes. when he turns back around, he laughs when he sees bambam stand before flopping back down onto his back on the bed, giggling loudly. “oh, you silly baby.”

****

jinyoung goes to him and changes his clothes, making sure his diaper’s done correctly before slipping on his pants and shirt. jinyoung leans down and kisses all over bambam’s face, laughing when bambam squeals and pats at jinyoung’s face in an attempt to push him away. “cutie, cutie, cutie.”

****

“papa, no!” bambam whines, and jinyoung smiles softly at him. bambam, despite having a slow start in his words, seems to have been able to acquire quite a bit of vocabulary already with a cute lisp. “no!”

****

“yes, yes, yes!” jinyoung laughs, laying on the bed and smiling at bambam. “you’re all dressed up for a picnic, huh?”

****

“pi’ni’!” bambam grins, and jinyoung feels like he could  _ cry _ at bambam’s little lisp and the way he doesn’t fully pronounce the ‘c’s in picnic. “wan’ san’wich.”

****

“all right, we’ll make you a sandwich,” jinyoung says, stroking bambam’s hair when bambam lays on his stomach and continues smiling at him. “strawberry?”

****

bambam nods eagerly and jinyoung hums, moving his hand down to stroke bambam’s cheek. “strawberry jelly sandwich it is. you want a snack with it?”

****

“app’e.” bambam wiggles and grabs jinyoung’s shirt, and jinyoung picks him up to lay him on his chest. “wan’ app’e.”

****

“apple slices for your snack time, then.” jinyoung kisses bambam’s little nose, smiling when it scrunches up. “cute.”

****

jinyoung leans his head back when he hears someone come in, and he grins at the upside down jaebum. he gently picks bambam up and lays him next to him before rolling over to see jaebum properly. “hey, bummie.”

****

“hey, honey,” jaebum hums, going over to jinyoung and bending down to kiss his forehead. he strokes bambam’s hair with a smile and coos, “hi, moonlight. wanna play with your hyungs?”

****

bambam looks up at jaebum curiously, and jinyoung chuckles, picking bambam up and getting off the bed. “i’ll take him, i’m already ready. i’ll just go put the food in the basket.”

****

“okay,” jaebum says, kissing jinyoung quickly and then kissing bambam’s cheek. “i’ll be down soon.”

****

jinyoung nods and grabs bambam’s backpack and his shoes before going down to the kids. he places bambam down on the playmat and kisses youngjae’s forehead, saying, “hey, jae. can you help papa?”

****

“mhm!” youngjae nods eagerly, looking up at jinyoung.

****

“can you help bambam put on his shoes?” jinyoung says, putting down bambam’s backpack and shoes. “and then put all of his toys in his backpack, okay?”

****

“okay!” youngjae grabs bambam’s shoes and starts to put them on bambam’s feet. 

****

jinyoung stands and goes to the kitchen. he grabs all the dosirak he made — two of them contained kimbap, while the other two were filled with rice, seaweed, and fried eggs. he hums to himself as he grabs the empty one, putting some more rice in it, as well as some kimchi. he makes bambam’s strawberry jelly sandwich, cutting it into two triangles before placing it in a container. he places the container in the basket and opens the fridge, grabbing some fruit for the boys — apples for bambam and youngjae, oranges for mark, and strawberries for jackson. once he makes sure all the food and utensils are in there, he places a few juice boxes and water bottles in there as well before shutting the basket.

****

jinyoung leaves the kitchen to check on youngjae and bambam, and he smiles when he sees youngjae tickling bambam, making the younger squeal loudly. he sits next to youngjae, who smiles up at him and says, “i put on his shoes! and put his toys in the backpack.”

****

“thank you so much, sweetie.” jinyoung kisses youngjae’s forehead and pets his hair. “i packed you an apple with bambam, is that okay? or would you like a different fruit?”

****

“pink apple?”

****

“mhm, it’s the fuji ones,” jinyoung reassures.

****

“okay,” youngjae says with a nod. “don’t want the green apples.”

****

jinyoung snorts — one time, when he was eating a green apple, youngjae had asked if he could try it. jinyoung warned him that it was sour before letting him try it, and the way youngjae’s face had scrunched up was amusing to jinyoung. now, youngjae refuses to eat any apple that’s not the fuji apples. “no green apples.”

****

youngjae grins happily and bambam whines, hitting jinyoung’s thigh with his rubber ball. “pa’! jae!”

****

“yes, li’l snake?” jinyoung coos, pulling bambam onto his lap. “what’s wrong?”

****

“why do you call him that?” youngjae asks curiously, tilting his head as bambam leans his head against jinyoung’s shoulder.

****

“‘cause ‘bam’ in korean means ‘snake’, remember?” jinyoung reminds gently. “so since his name is bambam, he can technically be ‘snake snake’, so he’s our li’l snake.”

****

“ohh,” youngjae whispers in awe, and he nods in understanding. “he’s like a baby snake.”

****

“he sure is,” jinyoung chuckles, kissing all over bambam’s chubby cheeks. “our little baby.”

****

jackson and mark come downstairs and sit next to youngjae. mark pokes bambam’s stomach, grinning when it elicits a giggle from bambam as he tries to squirm away. “bammie’s getting big.”

****

“he’s still a baby snake!” youngjae says determinedly, and jinyoung laughs as he pulls youngjae close and kisses his forehead. “he’s tiny.”

****

“i’m gonna be as tall as appa and papa when i grow up,” jackson huffs as he puffs out his chest proudly. “i’ma be  _ tall! _ ”

****

“eat your veggies first and we’ll see,” jinyoung reminds, and he grins when jackson makes a face. “if you eat more then maybe you really will be as tall as me and appa.”

****

“what are we gonna eat, papa?” mark asks, keeping his eyes on bambam as he scrunches up his nose, finding it amusing when bambam tries to scrunch up his nose back at mark.

****

“there’s kimbap,” jinyoung says, reaching out and fixing jackson’s cap. “there’s also rice, seaweed, eggs, and kimchi. i packed you boys some fruit, too, for a snack.”

****

“kimbap?” jackson gasps excitedly, eyes sparkling with joy. “what kind?”

****

“bulgogi kimbap,” jinyoung says, patting jackson’s head. “i know you boys like that one a lot.”

****

jackson cheers loudly, throwing his hands up in the air. bambam blinks owlishly at him before throwing his arms up as well, letting out a screech to imitate jackson. 

****

“why are we screaming?” jaebum asks as he comes downstairs. he bends down when youngjae runs up to him, and he picks him up, standing up and patting youngjae’s back. “hey, jae.”

****

“sseunie got excited ‘cause of bulgogi kimbap,” youngjae explains, cheeks flushed a light pink. “and he screamed! and bammie copied him.”

****

“oh, that’s cute,” jaebum chuckles, going up to jinyoung and the other boys. he moves to put youngjae down, but youngjae clings on tighter to him. “okay, okay. i won’t let go.”

****

youngjae giggles as he presses his cheek against jaebum’s shoulder. jaebum pets his hair and hums, “want me to get the basket and then we can go?”

****

“yes, please,” jinyoung says, picking up bambam and his backpack before standing up as jaebum goes to get the basket. mark and jackson stand up with him, and jaebum comes back with the basket in his other hand. “ready, boys?”

****

mark and jackson nod eagerly, and jinyoung makes sure he has his phone and wallet before turning to jaebum. jaebum nods and says, “i’ve got everything”, patting his pocket to make sure the keys are there. 

****

they leave the house, jinyoung taking the keys and locking the door before they go to the van. jaebum sets youngjae down so he can get in the van, and jinyoung waits for mark and jackson to sit inside before putting bambam in the car seat, buckling him up before putting his pacifier in his mouth. he pets bambam’s hair and, once making sure youngjae’s buckled up next to bambam and that mark and jackson are buckled up in the back, he goes to sit in the passenger seat. he puts on his own seatbelt and jaebum turns on the car, starting to drive to the han river. 

****

jinyoung constantly checks behind him, smiling when he sees that youngjae and bambam eventually fell asleep, youngjae holding bambam’s little hand in his own. mark and jackson are occupied in the back, cuddled next to each other as they whisper excitedly about the pokemon game they’re playing. 

****

“they’re so cute,” jinyoung whispers, turning back around and smiling softly. “bammie’s becoming so  _ big _ … but he’s still so  _ small _ .”

****

“they’re all growing up,” jaebum hums, sparing a quick glance over to jinyoung. “bammie grew out of his baby tub already, and youngjae takes care of him so well.”

****

“mark became so comfortable wearing his dress around the house.” jinyoung closes his eyes with content, still smiling softly. “he asked if we can get another one. i don’t think he’ll be comfortable enough any time soon to go outside with it, but it’s a start — you can tell he really likes wearing it.”

****

“yeah.” jaebum reaches out, intertwining his fingers with jinyoung’s. “and sseun’s gotten better with controlling his outbursts. mark learned how to keep his anxiety a bit more under control, and that’s good.”

****

“youngjae’s been more vocal lately, and bambam’s been spewing out new word after new word,” jinyoung chuckles. “gosh, bam’s lisp when he speaks is so  _ cute _ . his li’l accent sounds like his mom’s thai accent — i forgot how babies could develop accents when they start speaking.”

****

“whenever he asks for his mama…,” jaebum sighs, squeezing jinyoung’s hand. ms. kim eventually had to move back to thailand about three months after they adopted bambam, and she had told them she may not call often since she didn’t want to hurt. jinyoung and jaebum respected her decision, but lately, bambam’s been mumbling “mama” often — they tend to need to distract bambam from the topic, especially since ms. kim isn’t always up for calling. “but he’s still our li’l moonlight.”

****

jaebum looks over when he stops at a red light, stroking jinyoung’s hand with his thumb. “we got lucky.”

****

“yeah,” jinyoung says, leaning back, eyes still shut. “we did.”

****

when they arrive at the river, they park in a parking lot nearby. jaebum stops the car and turns it off, humming, “mark, sseun, we’re here.”

****

“oooh, it’s pretty,” jackson says, looking outside. “can we swim in it?”

****

“no, we can’t,” jinyoung chuckles. he gets out of the car, shutting his door and opening the backseat door instead. mark and jackson climb over the seats, careful not to hit youngjae or bambam as they get out of the car. jaebum gets out as well and jinyoung shoos mark and jackson over to jaebum.

****

“youngjae, honey,” jinyoung coos, petting youngjae’s hair gently. “wake up, sunshine, we’re here.”

****

youngjae whines softly in his sleep, stretching and rubbing his eyes sleepily. “papa…?”

****

“yes, sunshine?” 

****

youngjae opens his eyes, blinking sleepily at jinyoung. “are we there?”

****

“we are,” jinyoung says, helping youngjae unbuckle his seatbelt. “i’m gonna wake up bam and then we’ll join your appa and hyungs.”

****

youngjae nods, and jinyoung turns to bambam, smiling as bambam suckles on his pacifier in his sleep. jinyoung strokes bambam’s cheek, watching as he leans up against jinyoung’s hand. “bammie~. bammie, baby, it’s time to get up.”

****

youngjae turns and watches as jinyoung tries to get bambam to wake up, and he giggles, poking bambam’s tummy. “bammie! you gotta get up. we’re gonna have a picnic!”

****

bambam’s nose scrunches up, and jinyoung leans in, kissing bambam’s little nose. “c’mon, sweetie. you gotta wake up.”

****

bambam’s eyes flutter open, and he stares at jinyoung sleepily, starting to suck on his pacifier. jinyoung hums softly as he unbuckles bambam from his carseat, picking him up and patting his back. youngjae scrambles out of the car, and jinyoung makes sure he stays close as he grabs bambam’s backpack. “sunshine, can you hold bammie’s backpack?”

****

youngjae nods and takes bambam’s backpack, putting it on his back. jinyoung grabs the picnic basket and hums softly as he shuts the door, bouncing bambam in his arm. “let’s go, jae!”

****

youngjae skips in front of jinyoung, and he runs over to where jaebum, mark, and jackson are sitting. “hi, appa!”

****

“hey, jae,” jaebum chuckles, catching youngjae when he jumps in his arms. jaebum lays on his back on the picnic blanket he put on the ground, smiling at youngjae. “did you have a nice nap?”

****

“mhm.” youngjae grins at him, rolling off of jaebum and sitting up on the ground, taking off bambam’s backpack. 

****

jinyoung joins them, setting down the picnic basket before sitting down with them. he turns bambam around so he’s sitting on jinyoung’s lap, facing jaebum and his brothers. mark ruffles bambam’s hair, and bambam smiles at him from behind his pacifier.

****

“do you want to eat now, boys?” jinyoung asks, opening the picnic basket. mark and jackson gasp and move over, peeking inside. “i’ll take that as a yes.”

****

youngjae curls up against jaebum as jinyoung takes out all the dosirak. he hands one to each of the kids before handing one to jaebum with a smile. “if you want more rice or kimchi, tell me, i have an extra container or two.”

****

jinyoung takes out his own dosirak and he brings out bambam’s jelly sandwich. he opens the container and hands bambam one triangle of the sandwich, taking out his pacifier and cooing, “here you go, bammie.”

****

bambam grins happily and starts taking little bites of his sandwich, giggling to himself happily. jinyoung sighs with content and opens his dosirak, smiling when he notices that jaebum hasn’t touched his food yet while the boys started to eat. “you could’ve eaten.”

****

“but i wanted to wait,” jaebum insists, smiling back at him. “let’s eat now, okay?”

****

they all eat together, jinyoung and jaebum staying quiet as the kids talk to each other loudly. the sun’s shining warmly above them, and jaebum instinctively reaches for his phone, holding it up and opening the camera. he shifts slightly so youngjae’s also in frame, and he takes a few pictures with a soft smile on his face.

****

“appa’s taking pictures!” jackson gasps as he notices jaebum, and jaebum laughs as jackson and mark press their cheeks together and hold up peace signs. jaebum pulls youngjae onto his lap and switches the camera so that it’s in selfie mode. he can’t help but smile wider when youngjae grins up at the camera happily, and jinyoung coaxes for bambam to look up from his sandwich, only for him to throw his hands up happily and making jinyoung laugh. jaebum snaps a few photos, feeling fondness in his heart as he sets aside his phone. 

****

“i think our little bammie also really likes cameras,” jinyoung coos, bending down and kissing bambam’s cheek. 

****

bambam reaches for jaebum’s phone, eyes wide and sparkling, and jaebum wipes bambam’s hands before giving him the phone and opening the front camera. bambam gasps as he sees himself and jinyoung, pointing at the phone and proudly saying, “pa’!”

****

“you’re right, papa’s there!” jinyoung gasps dramatically, leaning down. “and there’s bammie, too!”

****

bambam lets out a little ‘ _ waa _ ’ of fascination, and he curiously clicks on the button to take a picture. he blinks curiously as their picture is taken, and he starts to giggle as he keeps pressing the button, jinyoung making silly faces behind him. 

****

“let’s give appa his phone back, okay?” jinyoung says, gently taking the phone from bambam and handing it back to jaebum. bambam’s nose scrunches up, bottom lip pushing out into a pout, and jinyoung gives him his sandwich slice again to prevent him from crying. jinyoung looks back up to see jaebum smiling as he swipes through the pictures, joking, “how’s his photo taking skills?”

****

“not terrible,” jaebum jokes back, putting his phone down. “might just teach him about photography when he grows up.”

****

jinyoung looks back down when bambam finishes his slice and reaches for his other sandwich slice. he smiles and grabs the slice for him, giving it to bambam and kissing the top of his head as bambam starts eating. jinyoung checks on mark and jackson, ruffling mark’s hair and cooing, “is the food good?”

****

“super good,” jackson says, putting a piece of kimbap in his mouth. “thank you, papa.”

****

mark nods in agreement, swallowing his food and grinning up at jinyoung. “it’s yummy.”

****

“i’m glad,” jinyoung hums, and he turns to youngjae, asking softly, “and you, jae?”

****

“yummy,” youngjae says, playing with the fried egg before eating it. “papa’s food is yummy.”

****

jinyoung smiles proudly, and jaebum leans over to kiss jinyoung’s cheek. “they’re right, your food  _ is _ really good. better than when we first met.”

****

“oh, stop,” jinyoung grumbles with a fond smile, swatting at jaebum. “don’t remind me.”

****

“papa was bad at cooking?” jackson gasps, staring up at jinyoung with wide eyes. “that’s  _ weird! _ ”

****

“he could only make ramen,” jaebum teases. “we ate ramen together a  _ lot _ .”

****

jinyoung’s cheeks turn pink, and he grumbles under his breath, shoving some rice in his mouth. they eat in silence, and mark and jackson eventually start whining and asking if they can play tag. 

****

“as long as you guys stay where we can see you, okay?”  jaebum says after a while. “and don’t run too much, i don’t want you guys to get sick.”

****

mark and jackson scramble up after giving their empty dosirak to jinyoung and racing off to play in the field. jaebum rubs youngjae’s back, humming, “wanna play with your hyungs?”

****

youngjae nods, closing his dosirak and handing it to jinyoung. jinyoung frowns slightly at how youngjae didn’t finish his eggs, asking, “did you not like the eggs, jae?”

****

“i got full,” youngjae says shyly. “sorry, papa.”

****

“it’s okay, sweetie,” jinyoung says with a smile, ruffling youngjae’s hair. “if you get hungry on the car ride back, just tell me. i’ll put some kimbap and more rice in here, okay?”

****

“okay!” youngjae grins, standing up and tugging at jaebum’s hand. “appa, come play! you can be it!”

****

“all right, all right,” jaebum chuckles, standing up and placing his own dosirak in the basket. “jinyoungie — are you okay with being alone…?”

****

“i’ll be okay,” jinyoung reassures, smiling down at bambam. “i can watch over bammie on my own. also, it’s a good opportunity to get him to try walking more.”

****

“if you say so.” jaebum leans down and kisses jinyoung before taking youngjae’s hand and letting him lead them to where mark and jackson are running around. 

****

jinyoung hums to himself as he puts everything back into the basket, gently bouncing his leg to hear bambam squeal in surprise. he closes the basket and looks down at bambam, smiling as he wipes the jam off of bambam’s hands with a wipe. “was the sandwich yummy, baby?”

****

bambam grins up at him, and jinyoung’s smile widens as he sees all of bambam’s little teeth. “‘ummy!”

****

“that’s good,” jinyoung coos. he watches as bambam places his hands on the ground and stands up carefully. “you gonna walk, moonlight?”

****

bambam scrunches up his nose, and jinyoung watches fondly as bambam starts to waddle his way across the picnic blanket. he stops at the edge and turns around to look at jinyoung before plopping back down on his butt. jinyoung laughs at the way bambam stares up at jinyoung with wide eyes, and jinyoung holds out his hand, cooing, “c’mere, bammie. you’re doing so good!”

****

bambam grins happily and stands up again, walking back to jinyoung. despite bambam being almost two, he seemed intent on crawling around, and jinyoung and jaebum have been trying to get him to get used to walking. it’s not like he’s  _ bad _ — he’s just too stubborn to use his little legs. he walks around jinyoung, almost tripping over the blanket, but managing to go around jinyoung before plopping himself on his lap. jinyoung smiles and picks bambam up, hugging him close and rubbing his back gently. “you’re growing up so fast. you’re getting big, huh?”

****

jinyoung carefully lets go of bambam, keeping an eye on him as bambam continues to waddle around. jinyoung glances behind bambam, smiling when he sees jaebum chasing the boys around the field. he jolts when he hears a little “ _ oof _ ”, and he sees bambam laying on his tummy on the blanket.

****

“oh, did you fall?” jinyoung scoots forward to help bambam sit back up properly. he coos softly when bambam’s bottom lip wobbles, and jinyoung kisses his cheek and tickles his tummy, saying, “don’t cry, baby, you’re okay.”

****

“pa’,” bambam mumbles, making grabby hands at jinyoung, who pulls him close to him. bambam points at jinyoung’s phone in jinyoung’s pocket, saying, “pika.”

****

“oh, you wanna watch pokemon and see pikachu?” jinyoung asks gently, and bambam grins widely once he hears  _ pikachu _ , saying, “pika! pika!!  _ pika!! _ ”

****

“okay, okay, pikachu it is,” jinyoung laughs, taking out his phone and pulling up a random pokemon episode. he gives the phone to bambam, who squeals and grips it excitedly, settling back as he watches the show.

****

jinyoung reaches into the picnic basket and pulls out one of the apples he placed in there, setting it down on the blanket before trying to find the knife he had put in there (and he’s glad he brought the one with a plastic cover on it, in case one of the boys tried to reach inside).

****

while jinyoung’s looking for the knife, bambam eyes the apple curiously. he puts down jinyoung’s phone, letting the show continue playing before grabbing the apple with both hands. bambam looks at the apple, marveling at how big it is in his hands before trying to take a bite of it — and whining loudly as soon as he does. “ _ owie! _ ”

****

jinyoung looks down and smiles as he grabs the apple from bambam. “did you hurt yourself, baby? you have to wait until papa cuts it for you.”

****

bambam sulks and grabs jinyoung’s phone, and jinyoung rewinds a little bit for bambam for him to watch it again. jinyoung finds the knife and takes off the plastic covering, leaning to the side to cut the apple so he doesn’t get the knife near bambam. once he’s cut it up into slices, he sets them down on top of some napkins before cutting them up into tiny pieces. 

****

“open up, bammie,” jinyoung whispers, holding up a piece of an apple slice up to bambam’s mouth. he smiles when bambam doesn’t take his eyes off the screen and opens his mouth, letting jinyoung feed him. “ah, you’re so cute.”

****

jinyoung continues to feed him the pieces of the apple slices, chuckling when bambam occasionally tries to bite at jinyoung’s fingers. he squishes bambam’s cheeks, and bambam whines, looking up at jinyoung, but bambam immediately grins when jinyoung kisses his forehead, cooing, “cute, cute,  _ cute _ .”

****

“pa’ cute,” bambam mumbles in retaliation, looking back down at jinyoung’s phone to continue watching pokemon. “cute.”

****

jinyoung feels his smile widening when bambam says ‘cute’, finding the little hesitation bambam’s tone has with every new word he says adorable. “gosh, i love you so  _ much _ . our cute little angel.”

****

bambam squeals when jinyoung leans down to kiss all over bambam’s cheek. “ _ no! _ ”

****

“bammie!” 

****

jinyoung looks up and smiles when jackson sits down in front of him and bambam. “hi, sseun. bammie, say hi to your hyung.”

****

bambam looks up from jinyoung’s phone, and he drops it onto the blanket, making grabby hands at jackson. “jack!”

****

“that’s me!” jackson laughs, and jinyoung pats bambam’s back to encourage him to go to jackson. bambam crawls over to jackson, who places him on his lap and giggles. “hi, bam! whatcha watchin’?”

****

“pika!” bambam says proudly, pointing at jinyoung’s phone. “pika pika!”

****

“pikachu?” jackson gasps dramatically. “i like pikachu! but markie  _ reallyyyy _ loves pikachu!”

****

bambam giggles, finding jackson’s dramaticness very amusing. jinyoung smiles softly at how jackson squishies bambam’s cheeks, saying, “sseun, do you want some fruit? i got you some strawberries.”

****

“yes, please!” jackson says, kissing bambam’s cheek. “bammie’s cheeks are like strawberries. i’ma eat him!”

****

jinyoung shakes his head fondly as jackson pretends to bite bambam’s cheeks, pulling out the container of strawberries he put in for jackson. “let’s eat real strawberries instead, hm?”

****

jackson grins with joy as he takes the container from jinyoung, opening it and popping a piece of strawberry in his mouth, since jinyoung had already cut it up for him before they went on the road. “thank you, papa.”

****

jackson holds up a piece of strawberry up to bambam’s mouth, and bambam opens his mouth wide, letting jackson feed him the strawberry. jinyoung takes out the other apple and the orange he packed, starting to cut them up as well. “be careful, he already had some apple pieces. we don’t want his tummy to hurt.”

****

jackson nods and eats his strawberries, and jinyoung places his phone back in bambam’s hands to let them continue watching pokemon. jinyoung smiles softly and turns back to the fruits he’s cutting up. he sees bambam eyeing the apple pieces again, and he chuckles, “on second thought — sseun, can you feed bam some more of his apple pieces? if he ends up not wanting more after giving him some, then don’t, okay?”

****

jackson pulls the napkin with apple pieces on it closer, starting to feed bambam some of the pieces, too. jinyoung’s smile widens every time bambam repeats certain words from the episode with a squeal, wanting to just pick bambam up again and press kisses all over his face. he sets the orange and apple slices on separate napkins, turning around to see jaebum still chasing youngjae and mark. “jaejae! markie! come eat some fruits!”

****

jinyoung watches as jaebum immediately stops, ushering the boys to run back to jinyoung, jackson, and bambam. the boys rush over and sit down, and jinyoung hands them their fruit slices as jaebum comes and sits down next to jackson and bambam. he looks over and gasps dramatically, saying, “are you watching  _ pokemon?! _ ”

****

“pika,” bambam says firmly, nodding to himself. jaebum coos and kisses bambam’s cheek, ruffling his hair. 

****

“bambam-ah, what’s this?” jaebum asks, pointing at jackson’s strawberries, wondering if bambam had quietly acquired more vocabulary.

****

“stwawbe’ies!” bambam squeaks excitedly, grinning up at jaebum as he says the word with the cutest lisp. he points at the oranges in mark’s hand, adding, “o’ange!”

****

“why does bammie talk different?” youngjae asks curiously, peeking up at jinyoung and jaebum.

****

“i think bammie somehow acquired the thai accent from his mom and growing up for a little less than a year in thailand,” jinyoung responds, pulling out a small container of grapes, opening it and offering some to jaebum, who takes some. “so he has a little lisp when he speaks — so some letters aren’t pronounced properly.”

****

“oh.” youngjae nods and turns back to his apple slices. jaebum smiles and pets his hair gently, and youngjae looks back up to see jaebum making a talking motion with his hand before doing a thumbs up and a thumbs down. youngjae considers for a while before doing a sideways thumbs up. jaebum nods in understanding and looks over at jinyoung, who nods to indicate he saw — they always ask youngjae through minimal hand signals whether or not he’s up for talking a lot if he seemed to be talking a bit less. it makes youngjae more comfortable, since there’s times he feels bad about wanting to not speak and feels as though he would make his brothers and appa and papa upset.

****

“do you want an orange, jaejae?” mark asks, looking over at youngjae. 

****

youngjae nods and takes an orange slice before offering an apple slice to mark. mark smiles and thanks him as he takes the piece, and youngjae smiles back before turning to jackson, offering another apple slice. jackson takes it giddily before placing two strawberries on the side of youngjae’s napkin, knowing that youngjae doesn’t like it when food that don’t go together are next to each other and the flavors end up mixing.

****

bambam looks up when something flies past his face, looking at the butterfly that landed at the edge of the blanket. jinyoung and jaebum watch as bambam sets jinyoung’s phone down and stands up, eyes set on the butterfly. bambam’s eyes furrow in concentration as he quickly waddles over, but he trips and falls onto his stomach with a small “oof”. he looks up at the butterfly and watches as it flies up slightly to land on his nose. bambam’s nose scrunches up and he sneezes, pouting when the butterfly flies up away from him. “no _ oo _ …”

****

“you like the butterfly, moonlight?” jaebum coos softly, scooting forward to help bambam sit up. “you okay?”

****

“butterf’y,” bambam mumbles, pointing at the butterfly. he blinks owlishly as the butterfly lands on his finger, and he grins at jaebum, saying, “ _ butterf’y!! _ ”

****

“you’re right,  _ butterfly _ ,” jaebum encourages, watching as the butterfly flies away from bambam. “say bye bye, butterfly.”

****

“bye bye,” bambam mumbles with a pout before turning around to jaebum, reaching up for him. jaebum picks him up and hugs him against his chest, rubbing his back and humming, “you really like to explore everything, huh?”

****

jaebum takes another grape from jinyoung, and he notices how bambam stares at it curiously. jaebum smiles and holds it up, saying, “do you want to try the grape, moonlight? it might taste funny.”

****

“grape,” bambam says, reaching out for the grape. “appa! grape!”

****

jaebum chuckles and lets bambam take a small bite, watching his expression carefully before laughing when bambam’s nose scrunches up. “what’s wrong, bammie?”

****

bambam sticks his tongue out in slight distress, the slight sourness still in his mouth. “ _ yuck. _ ”

****

“silly baby,” jaebum laughs, popping the rest of the grape in his mouth. “it’s yummy. maybe when you’re older we’ll try again.”

****

when the boys finish with their fruits and they play around for a little bit longer, jaebum notices how bambam starts to doze off against him, whining softly. jinyoung notices and he hands jaebum bambam’s pacifier, and jaebum takes off the cap before carefully slipping it in bambam’s mouth. he continues to rub bambam’s back as he watches bambam fall asleep. “nyoungie?”   


jinyoung nods and puts away everything into the picnic basket. “he doesn’t need to be changed, right?”

****

“surprisingly, no,” jaebum says, patting bambam’s bottom before rubbing his back again. “he’ll probably need to be changed after his nap.”

****

jinyoung hums softly and grabs bambam’s backpack, saying, “hey boys, i think it’s time for us to go home, yeah?”

****

“can we come back again soon?” jackson pouts, taking bambam’s backpack from jinyoung, adding, “i’ll help, papa!”

****

“thank you, sseun-ah,” jinyoung chuckles, standing and picking up the picnic basket. “and yes, we can come back soon when we’re all free. but for now, we need to get home.”

****

mark helps youngjae to stand up and holds his and jackson’s hands, saying with a smile, “we’re ready, papa!”

****

“then let’s go,” jaebum says, making sure that the boys are walking with him and jinyoung before going back to patting bambam’s back gently. once they reach the van, he makes sure the boys have gotten inside before placing bambam in his carseat and buckling him up carefully. he looks over at youngjae and asks, “do you need help buckling up, sunshine?”

****

youngjae nods and smiles when jaebum helps him and kisses his cheek when he finishes. jaebum pets his hair and asks, “do you want to play a game on my phone? or watch a movie?”

****

youngjae holds up two fingers, and jaebum grins, saying, “movie it is!”

****

jaebum makes sure mark and jackson have their 3ds and that they’re buckled up before shutting the door and going around to get in the driver’s seat. once he closes the door, he picks up his phone, pulling up  _ toy story 2 _ as jinyoung turns to youngjae, asking, “do you want earphones, angel?” 

****

youngjae nods and jaebum plugs in his earphones before turning around completely, handing youngjae the phone and helping him put in his earphones. youngjae makes the hand signal and slight bow for ‘thank you’, smiling up at them, and jaebum smiles back proudly, knowing that they’ve all been trying hard to learn some basic sign language for youngjae. he makes sure that youngjae’s content and watching his movie, that bambam’s still asleep and that mark and jackson are happily playing their pokemon game. 

****

jaebum puts on his seatbelt and starts the car, starting to drive them back to their home. he feels jinyoung place his hand on top of jaebum’s that’s on the console. jaebum spares a quick glance at jinyoung and smiles as he turns his focus back on the road. “i love you.”

****

“love you more,” jinyoung says with a smile of his own, letting his eyes flutter in content as he drifts off to sleep. 

 

* * *

****

jinyoung picks up his phone when it starts to ring, frowning when he sees that it’s wooyoung. he answers the call and places the phone to his ear, petting mark’s hair as he watches him and jackson do their homework. “hey, hyung.”

****

“hi, jinyoung,” wooyoung says, and there’s a certain edge to his voice that makes jinyoung furrow his eyebrows. “are you free? is jaebum there?”

****

“yeah, give me a minute,” jinyoung says before putting the call on mute and turning to mark. “hey, markie, sseunie, can you work on your homework alone until papa comes back? i’ll only take five minutes.”

****

“i’ll count!” jackson threatens, and jinyoung laughs, kissing their foreheads before going upstairs to jaebum’s office. he knocks and enters quietly, whispering, “hyung? are you busy?”

****

“no, what’s wrong?” jaebum asks, looking up from his computer and letting jinyoung sit on his lap.   


 

“it’s wooyoung,” jinyoung mumbles, taking the phone off of mute and putting it on speaker. “hi, hyung. jaebum’s here.”

****

“okay,” wooyoung sighs, and they hear some papers shuffling. “so, i know you have your hands full with four kids and i’m not going to blame you if you don’t want to take up this offer. your names were still on the list for a newborn baby to adopt, so i called as procedure, since you were pretty high up.”

****

“what is it?” jaebum asks, wrapping his arms around jinyoung’s waist, looking up at jinyoung with a knowing expression. 

****

“a young woman came by, she’s about 19,” wooyoung begins to explain. “long story short — she’s pregnant, and she doesn’t want to abort the baby — she wants that to be her absolute last option. she came by to see if she can put the baby up for adoption. of course, we explained how we’ll call and she’ll meet the couples, and that the couples would help her during her pregnancy. and so, since you were on the list…”

****

“we’re a couple that qualifies,” jinyoung breathes out, staring at jaebum with wide eyes. “hyung… can we…?”

****

jaebum rubs jinyoung’s hips and he says to wooyoung, “we’d love to take up the offer. there’s a meeting first, yeah? we can get an opinion from the boys, then we can do the first meeting if they’re okay with the idea with a baby sibling. and if she likes us enough, then we can proceed with it.”

****

“that sounds like a plan,” wooyoung says, and they can practically hear the smile in his voice. “give me a text as soon as you guys have a response from the boys and i’ll arrange the meeting for you guys, okay?”

****

“thank you, hyung, thank you so much,” jinyoung whispers with a grin. “i’ll text you as soon as possible.”

****

“i’ll talk to you guys later, then,” wooyoung says, and they bid their goodbyes before jinyoung hangs up. he turns to jaebum immediately and grins even wider down at him, saying, “ _ hyung! _ ”

****

“i know, baby, i know,” jaebum laughs, leaning up to give jinyoung a quick kiss. “you’ve wanted to raise a newborn for so long. but you know we won’t adopt anymore after this one, if she believes we’re suitable enough.”

****

“i know,” jinyoung mumbles, holding jaebum’s hands. “i’m  _ excited _ . i feel as though it’d be worth it, even if we’ll technically be raising two babies… bambam’s just turned two, i feel like it was just two months ago that we adopted bambam…”

****

“they’re growing up so fast,” jaebum agrees softly, rubbing jinyoung’s back gently. “we really adopted mark and jackson two and a half years ago… ah, don’t cry, honey,” jaebum adds when jinyoung tears up at the statement, “i know, i know. don’t cry, aren’t you helping the boys with their homework? you don’t want them to see you crying.”

****

“okay, okay,” jinyoung says with a deep breath, wiping his eyes. “i’ll go back right now. do you want to make something for dinner, or should we just order out?”

****

“i was thinking of making gochujang noodles.” jaebum reaches up to run his fingers through jinyoung’s hair soothingly. “jackson said that he liked the amount of gochujang spice we added last time ‘cause it wasn’t super spicy. we can make that again, but just a  _ little _ less spicy than that ‘cause of bammie.”

****

“okay,” jinyoung hums, slipping off jaebum’s lap and kissing him gently, whispering against his lips, “will you be done in an hour?”

****

“mhm. maybe even 30 minutes.”

****

“can you wake up bambam and youngjae, then, when you’re done?” jinyoung asks, smiling when jaebum nods. “thanks. i’ll go back to jackson and mark now, sseun’s saying he’s been counting down from five minutes.”

****

jaebum chuckles and shoos him out, and jinyoung goes back downstairs to take his seat in between jackson and mark at the table. “well, sseun? how’d i do?”

****

“you had 37 seconds left!” jackson proclaims, and jinyoung’s slightly impressed that he managed to keep count for five minutes. “but i didn’t work on my homework ‘cause i wanted to make sure you were back on time.”

****

“that’s okay, i’ll still help,” jinyoung reassures, watching as jackson turns back to his book. jinyoung looks at mark, asking, “do you need any help with your math, sweetie?”

****

“i’m okay right now,” mark says, little tongue poking out in concentration. “you can finish sseunie’s book! i’ll keep working.”

****

jinyoung nods and ruffles his hair before turning to jackson, pointing at each word and encouraging jackson to read. jackson starts to read again slowly, carefully enunciating each word. he furrows his brows at a few words, to which jinyoung gently helps him say it properly. soon, they get to the end of the book, with mark watching them curiously as he waits for jinyoung to check his homework.

****

“you did good, sseunie!” jinyoung says, high-fiving jackson. “i’m really proud of you. you’re improving really fast, too.”

****

jackson grins up at him proudly, puffing out his chest to portray his excitement. jinyoung kisses his forehead and hums, “do you want to read another book? if not, you can go watch a movie while i check mark’s work.”

****

“another one! but with appa and when i go to sleep,” jackson says, and jinyoung nods, shooing him off to let him go watch a movie.

****

jinyoung turns his focus to mark, who pushes his paper full of addition problems and his answers to jinyoung. jinyoung picks it up and studies it carefully, smiling at how the size of mark’s numbers get smaller with every problem. he sets it down and directs his smile towards mark, saying, “they’re all correct!”

****

mark claps giddily and he pushes his subtraction problems towards jinyoung, slightly bouncing in his seat. jinyoung carefully checks his answers before pointing at an answer, humming, “everything’s right except this one. you put 5 instead of 6.”

****

mark lets out a little “ _ oh! _ ” before erasing his answer and fixing it. “there!”

****

jinyoung ruffles his hair fondly, making mark smile up at him. “do you have any other homework?”

****

“no,” mark hums, swinging his feet. “can i join sseunie?”

****

“yes, you can,” jinyoung laughs, watching as mark hurriedly shoves his homework in his folder before hopping out of his chair and running to jackson. jinyoung grabs the folder and puts it on the kitchen counter so he won’t forget to put it in mark’s backpack. he goes into the kitchen and starts to make the gochujang noodles, deciding he’ll make some bulgogi on the side as well. twenty minutes later, he hears soft whining, and he turns to see jaebum holding bambam in his arms, bouncing him gently while he holds youngjae’s hand. jinyoung smiles when he sees youngjae yawn widely and rub his eyes while bambam nuzzles closer against jaebum’s chest. “i see that my babies are awake.”

****

“‘m tired, papa,” youngjae yawns again, letting go of jaebum’s hand to waddle over to jinyoung, who picks him up and kisses his forehead. “hi.”

****

“hi, sunshine,” jinyoung chuckles, looking over at jaebum and mouthing,  _ watch the food for a bit _ . jaebum nods and jinyoung carries youngjae to the living room, humming, “you woke up in time for dinner. i’m making gochujang noodles. how about you stay with mark and sseunie for a bit, hm?”

****

“ma’kie, jack,” youngjae whines, and jackson turns immediately, making grabby hands at youngjae and cuddling him when jinyoung sets him between mark and jackson. “mm. warm.”

****

“jaejae’s cute,” jackson giggles, holding youngjae’s hand and grinning when youngjae curls up even closer. “what are we eating, papa?” 

****

“gochujang noodles and bulgogi,” jinyoung says, laughing when jackson makes a face. “don’t worry, sseunie, i’m not going to make the noodles really spicy. it’ll be less spicy than the last time we ate it, especially since bambam will eat it with us.”

****

jackson nods in satisfaction and turns back to the movie, and jinyoung goes back to the kitchen, where jaebum’s cooing softly at bambam, who’s letting out little giggles as jaebum kisses his cheeks. “aw, do i not get any bambam or jaebum kisses?”

****

“come here, babe,” jaebum laughs, and he pulls jinyoung into a hug, kissing him gently. they jerk apart when bambam lets out a loud and sullen whine, and jinyoung coos softly, kissing bambam’s cheek and humming, “aren’t you such a jealous baby?”

****

bambam grins happily from behind his pacifier, bouncing giddily in jaebum’s arms. jinyoung laughs and turns back to the food, adding some spices carefully and mixing the noodles together. “mark! sseun, jae! food is ready, go sit at the table.”

****

jaebum goes to the table to set bambam down onto his booster seat, making sure he’s comfortable and he’s buckled in. he turns back to go into the kitchen, helping jinyoung place noodles in the bowls and going to place it at the table. jaebum kisses mark and jackson’s foreheads when he notices them at the table and sets down their bowls, humming, “were you two good to papa?”

****

mark and jackson nod insistently, and jaebum smiles as he turns to youngjae, who’s sitting next to bambam. jaebum sets down youngjae and bambam’s bowls, humming, “you feeling more awake, sunshine?”

****

“mhm.” youngjae nods, smiling up at jaebum, who kisses the top of his head. 

****

jaebum turns to see jinyoung balancing the plate full of bulgogi on his arm with two bowls of noodles in his hands. jaebum hurriedly grabs the plate and sets it in the middle of the table, and jinyoung thanks him softly with a smile, kissing his cheek as he puts down his and jaebum’s bowls. jinyoung hands mark and jackson their chopsticks, before turning to youngjae and asking, “jae, sweetie, do you want to try regular chopsticks or do you want to stick with the training ones?”

****

“regular, please,” youngjae requests, taking the pair of chopsticks that jinyoung hands to him. “thank you.”

****

“no problem, just let us know if you want the training ones,” jinyoung reassures as jaebum takes the training chopsticks from jinyoung to help bambam with his grip on them. 

****

jaebum and jinyoung sit down at the table, and jaebum chuckles as bambam scoops up a bunch of noodles and shoves it in his mouth. “slow down, moonlight.”

****

bambam sets his hand down and chews on the noodles, some falling back into the bowl. jaebum reaches out with a napkin and wipes his mouth carefully, humming again, “slow down and be careful, moonlight.”

****

“okay,” bambam mumbles, and jaebum smiles as he picks up a piece of bulgogi, holding it up to bambam’s mouth once he swallows his noodles. bambam opens his mouth and lets jaebum feed him, humming in content as he chews on it. “t’ank you!”

****

jaebum’s smile widens and he ruffles bambam’s hair before turning back to the bulgogi. he grabs the tongs and begins to place some in the bowls for mark, jackson, youngjae, and bambam. he turns to jinyoung, humming, “do you want some, nyoungie?”

****

“please,” jinyoung says softly, and jaebum places some bulgogi in jinyoung’s bowl of noodles as well. jinyoung leans forward and whispers quietly, “when do we tell them?”

****

“wait a little bit, when they’re settled and eating,” jaebum mumbles back, grabbing some bulgogi in his own bowl. “i’ll let you know.”

****

they eat together, mark and jackson constantly poking at each other and giggling quietly as they whisper to one another. jaebum and jinyoung hear little whispers about reading a book, and they share a quick glance and a smile before going back to their food. 

****

youngjae hums softly as he eats, swinging his feet happily. bambam sometimes gets a tad bit frustrated at the chopsticks, but jaebum hurriedly readjusts his grip to get him back on track. bambam’s cheeks have small splatters of sauce on them, and jaebum turns away with a fond smile, continuing to eat his food.

****

soon, jaebum squeezes jinyoung’s thigh, and jinyoung looks up to see jaebum nod at him slightly. jinyoung takes a deep breath and sets down his chopsticks. “boys? we have something to ask.”

****

mark, jackson, and youngjae pause and look up at him, while bambam spares a glance at the sudden silence before going back to eating his food. mark furrows his eyebrows in confusion and says, “did we do something?”

****

“no, you didn’t,” jaebum reassures. “mister wooyoung called… and no, it’s nothing about you guys, we promise.”

****

“then what’s wrong?” jackson frowns.

****

“so mister wooyoung said there’s a young lady who’s going to have a baby in a few months,” jinyoung explains carefully, holding jaebum’s hand under the table. “and, like how we were contacted about bammie, we were contacted about her. we were thinking of… of adopting the baby when they’re born, but…”

****

“but we said we’d check with you boys first, to make sure you’re all okay with it,” jaebum continues, squeezing jinyoung’s hand. “we didn’t want to continue this decision without telling you boys, especially since the baby would cry a lot at night, more than how bammie did.”

****

it’s silent for a while, making bambam frown and whine softly in distress. jaebum ruffles bambam’s hair and strokes his cheek gently, him and jinyoung waiting for the boys to respond.   


“okay,” youngjae eventually responds with a shrug, going back to his noodles. “that’s okay. i can help!”

****

“so can we!” jackson says excitedly, grinning up at jinyoung, who sighs with relief. “is the baby a boy or a girl?”

****

“we don’t know any information, we haven’t scheduled a time to meet with the mom because we had to check with you boys,” jinyoung explains softly. he turns to mark, who’s staring at his food, and asks quietly, “mark? what do you think?”

****

mark’s silent for a while longer before he picks up his chopsticks, shoving three pieces of bulgogi in his mouth. when he chews and swallows, he says, “it’s okay. i like babies.”

****

jaebum smiles widely and kisses jinyoung’s cheek, watching as the younger blooms with happiness. “i’m glad. sorry if we scared you a bit, you can eat again.”

****

the boys go back to eating, and jaebum helps bambam pick up his training chopsticks again. he turns to jinyoung and kisses his cheek again, humming softly, “see? everything’s okay. we can tell wooyoung after dinner.”

****

jinyoung nods with a smile, letting go of jaebum’s hand to go back to eating, excited to schedule a meeting with the mother-to-be.

****

* * *

****

jinyoung and jaebum enter wooyoung’s office, greeting him softly before bowing and greeting the young lady sitting in one of the chairs. wooyoung adjusts his folders on his desk, smiling as he says, “jinyoung, jaebum, this is yeeun. yeeun, this is jinyoung and jaebum.”

****

yeeun smiles at them softly, a hand on her stomach. wooyoung shifts before saying, “as i mentioned, yeeun-ssi doesn’t wish to abort the baby, but she’s unable to support it once it’s born. so, she decided to put it up for adoption. yeeun-ssi?”

****

“i just found out a few days ago that it’s a boy,” yeeun says softly, and jinyoung intertwines his fingers with jaebum’s, squeezing it nervously. “i don’t… i don’t really have much to say. i’ve said this to the other two couples that i’ve met with, but… if i choose you, the only thing i’d wish is to be able to name him. that’s all.”

****

“of course, if yeeun-ssi deems the both of you good enough, you’re not  _ required _ to help her out, but it’s greatly appreciated in the process,” wooyoung adds.

****

“that’s fine,” jaebum says, smiling reassuringly at her. “i’m sure wooyoung might have told you this about us in advance, but we have four boys. the youngest just turned two last month.”

****

“and we’ve had experience raising a newborn before as well,” jinyoung adds. “you can ask wooyoung hyung — it was his niece.”

****

wooyoung groans dramatically, making yeeun stifle her giggles behind her hand before saying, “you two seem very kind. you said you have four boys?”

****

jinyoung and jaebum spend the rest of the meeting talking to yeeun about the boys, catching up wooyoung in the process. soon, jinyoung checks his phone and gasps, saying, “ah, i’m sorry, but — we actually need to pick up the boys from school, we lost track of time.”

****

jaebum nods apologetically, standing up and making sure he has his things. he bows to yeeun, holding her hand and saying, “i hope you consider us. but either way, we hope you have an easy pregnancy and it goes smoothly without a lot of pain.”

****

“thank you, jaebum-ssi,” yeeun says, smiling brightly at him. “i hope to see you both again, too. i don’t want to stop you from picking up your boys, though.”

****

“we’ll see you later, wooyoung hyung,” jinyoung says before thanking yeeun again softly. he takes jaebum’s hand and leaves the office, the both of them going to the van and hurriedly getting inside. as they buckle up and leave, jinyoung smiles at jaebum, saying, “she seems like such a sweetheart. i  _ really _ hope she considers us.”

****

“so do i,” jaebum says as he drives them to the school to pick up mark, jackson, and youngjae. “she seemed to like our description of the boys.”

****

“who wouldn’t, they’re absolute sweethearts,” jinyoung chuckles. he keeps his hand over jaebum’s on the gear, the car ride silent until they arrive at the school two minutes before the bell rings. they get out of the van and lock it, going up to the gate to join other parents waiting for their kids.

****

when the bell rings, mark grabs his backpack and hurries out of the class with jonghyun right next to him after bidding goodbye to their teacher. they wait in front of another classroom, and jackson and minho soon exit with grins on their faces. mark holds jackson’s hand and jonghyun holds minho’s, and the four of them go to another classroom further down the hall, where youngjae’s waiting in front of the door silently. youngjae smiles up at them when he sees them, holding mark’s other hand tightly. the five of them hurry to the front of the school towards the gates, and, once they see jaebum and jinyoung, they run over to them, hugging their legs tightly. 

****

“hi, uncle nyoung, uncle bum,” jonghyun says with a grin. “where’s appa and papa?”

****

“your appa and papa are taking care of bammie and taeminnie, remember?” jinyoung reminds gently, ruffling his hair. “so we’re taking you and minho back and we’ll pick up bambam.”

****

“okay,” jonghyun giggles, and the five of them follow jaebum and jinyoung back to the van — youngjae, minho, and jackson sit together while mark and jonghyun sit together in the back. jaebum and jinyoung make sure everyone’s buckled up before going into the front seats, starting to drive to jinki and kibum’s house.

****

“how was school, boys?” jaebum asks, glancing in the rearview mirror and winking at youngjae, who covers his mouth to stifle his giggles. “was it fun?”

****

“we’re doing  _ numbers _ , appa!” jackson says giddily, and jaebum shares a quick smile with jinyoung, knowing how much jackson seems to love numbers and counting. 

****

“and we got to finger paint,” minho pipes up, wiggling his little fingers. “but we got in trouble. we put paint on each other.”

****

“that sounds like fun,” jinyoung chuckles. “you can play around like that but not  _ too _ much, okay? we don’t want you to get in trouble a lot.”

****

jackson and minho nod eagerly, and jinyoung asks, “youngjae? what about you, angel?”

****

“it was okay,” youngjae hums, swinging his legs gently as he looks out the window. “i have a friend.”

****

“do you?” jinyoung gasps, turning around with joy in his eyes, knowing that youngjae’s been too scared to interact with other students. “what’s their name?”

****

“lucas,” youngjae says, looking back at jinyoung and smiling at him. “he’s nice! he’s like jacks and bammie. he was born in hong kong. his appa is chinese and his mama is thai!”

****

“that’s cool!” jackson gasps, looking over at youngjae. “can i see him? please, please,  _ please _ ?”

****

“mhm!” youngjae nods eagerly. “at lunch, you can all meet him.”

****

jinyoung feels content with how happy youngjae sounds, and he looks at mark, asking, “what about you two? markie, was everything okay in class today?”

****

“yeah! jonghyunnie made me calm and happy,” mark says happily. “we got to play with miss sunmi’s pet puppy! she brought him to school.”

****

“oh, that sounds exciting,” jaebum hums as he turns into jinki and kibum’s driveway. “what kind of puppy does she have?”

****

“she has a  _ corgi _ , uncle bum!” jonghyun’s nearly bouncing in his seat with excitement. “and he was a baby!”

****

jaebum parks the van and he and jinyoung get out quickly to open the doors for the boys. youngjae, jackson, and minho clamber out so that mark and jonghyun can also get out. jaebum locks the van once the doors are shut, then he and jinyoung leads them up to the door. minho eagerly reaches up and knocks insistently on the door, yelling, “appa! papa!”

****

the door opens and kibum appears, bending down to catch minho when he runs into his arms. “hey, minho. be quiet, okay? taeminnie’s sleeping.”

****

minho wriggles in kibum’s arms and shushes jonghyun dramatically. jonghyun nods just as dramatically, and minho jumps out of kibum’s arms so that all the kids can quietly scurry into the living room. kibum stands and smiles when he hears jinki entertaining the kids before turning to jinyoung and jaebum, whispering, “hey. how was it?”

****

“the mother’s so sweet,” jinyoung sighs, linking his arm with jaebum’s and leaning against him. “she’s young, too, she’s only 19. but we spoke with her, she asked about the boys and she seems to think they’re sweethearts. but she  _ has _ talked to three other couples… so i’m not so sure… i hope she chooses us as a suitable couple.”

****

“i hope she does, too,” kibum says with a soft smile, leading jaebum and jinyoung into the house. “bambam woke up about twenty minutes ago, taemin’s still sleeping. how were the boys?”

****

“minho and jackson learned more about numbers and they finger painted today,” jaebum states, watching as mark picks up bambam and kisses all over his chubby cheeks. “youngjae made a new friend, and mark and jonghyun got to play with miss sunmi’s corgi, since she apparently brought him today.”

****

“how cute,” kibum coos. “i’m glad they all had a good day today.”

****

bambam turns around in mark’s arms and gasps loudly at the sight of jinyoung and jaebum. he wiggles insistently in mark’s arms, and mark sets him down carefully on the floor, steadying him on his legs. bambam toddles his way over to jinyoung and jaebum, and he reaches them without any mishaps, hugging jaebum’s leg and looking up at him with a huge grin on his face. “ap _ pa! _ papa!”

****

“look at you, our little moonlight growing up so well,” jaebum says softly, bending down to pick bambam up before standing back up. “it feels like you were just crawling around and barely starting to say words yesterday…”

****

“miss appa,” bambam grumbles under his breath, rubbing his eyes to get rid of his sleepiness. “miss papa.”

****

“we missed you, too,” jinyoung coos, petting bambam’s hair gently. “were you nice to uncle kibum and uncle jinki? did you have fun with taeminnie?”

****

bambam nods, pressing his cheek against jaebum’s shoulder. jaebum rubs bambam’s back gently and jinyoung whispers to kibum, “did he eat anything after waking up?”

****

“he shared an apple with me because he kept looking at it with his wide eyes.” kibum rolls his eyes fondly, and jaebum kisses the top of bambam’s head. “he’s so obsessed with fruits, it’s cute. he tried to take some of jinki’s watermelon but he had eaten so many apple pieces that we stopped him.”

****

“thank you,” jaebum chuckles, bouncing bambam in his arms. “you really like your fruits, hm? what do you want to eat for dinner, moonlight?”

****

“noodle,” bambam mumbles, thumb going up to his mouth, and he suckles on his thumb quietly as he snuggles closer to jaebum. “wanna eat noodle.”

****

“think we can try pad thai today?” jaebum asks jinyoung, glancing over at him. “he really liked it the last time that we made it.”

****

“yeah, we can make it,” jinyoung hums as he turns to the boys. “mark, sseun, jae, you boys ready to go?”

****

mark hugs jonghyun tightly, giggling, “see you tomorrow!” before going to jinyoung and jaebum. jackson and youngjae hug minho before rushing to jinyoung and jaebum. jinyoung picks up youngjae and hums, “say bye to uncle kibum and uncle jinki, kids.”

****

there’s choruses of goodbyes, and bambam reaches out to pat kibum’s cheek in satisfaction before nuzzling back against jaebum. jinyoung smiles at kibum, hugging him and saying, “tell jinki hyung thanks, too. we’ll see you later.”

****

jaebum and jinyoung go back to the van with the kids, making sure mark and jackson are sitting in the back before buckling youngjae and bambam in their car seats. they sit in the front and put on their seatbelts before driving home. jinyoung turns in his seat and looks at mark when he utters a little, “papa?”, raising his eyebrow and humming, “yes, angel?”

****

“did you see mister wooyoung today?” mark asks, and youngjae and jackson perk up excitedly, looking up at jinyoung. 

****

“we did,” jinyoung says, smiling at them and making a silly face at bambam, who giggles loudly. “we met the mom, and she’s super sweet.”

****

“is the baby gonna live with us?” jackson bounces in his seat giddily, looking at jinyoung with wide eyes.

****

jinyoung sighs and turns around, rolling his shoulder and wincing slightly. jaebum shoots him a worried look and jinyoung waves him off. “we don’t know yet, honey. she still has to meet with other couples. she might not choose us, but we hope she does.”

****

“i hope so, too,” jackson grumbles, sulking. “i  _ know _ it’s gonna be a boy!”

****

“is that so?” jaebum chuckles, glancing in the rear-view mirror at jackson with a grin. “well, you’re correct!”

****

“ _ ha! _ i was right!” jackson exclaims, and jinyoung snorts at his joy. “appa, papa, what’re we gonna eat?”

****

“pad thai, ‘cause our li’l bammie wants to eat noodles,” jinyoung says, laughing when bambam squeaks out, “tha’s me!” 

****

“yum,” youngjae hums, poking bambam’s tummy. “bammie always picks good food!”

****

jaebum smiles, and jinyoung places his hand above jaebum’s on the console, leaning his head back and smiling at him softly, and he feels  _ content _ .

****

* * *

****

“appa, papa, where are we?” mark asks curiously, looking around as he holds jackson’s hand. jinyoung’s holding youngjae’s hand and jaebum’s holding bambam in his arm (he can’t believe they forgot the  _ stroller _ . but it’s fine, since bambam’s clinging to him happily and looking around in fascination). 

****

“we’re at the aquarium,” jinyoung says, and mark gasps in fascination, excitedly tugging at jackson’s hand. he notices that jackson and youngjae look confused, and he adds softly, “it’s where all the fish and sea animals are. it’s like the zoo but more fish.”

****

“ _ oh! _ ” youngjae gasps, eyes sparkling. “like nemo!”

****

“we’re gonna see  _ nemo _ ?” jackson’s buzzing with the same amount of excitement as mark is now, and bambam stares down at them in confusion. “bammie! we’re gonna see  _ nemo! _ ”

****

“nemo…,” bambam mumbles in confusion, puffing out his cheeks and tilting his head. “nemo?”

****

“the orange fish from the movie, remember?” jaebum coos, stroking bambam’s cheek as jinyoung buys their tickets. 

****

bambam gasps as he realizes, and he starts wiggling in jaebum’s arms, squealing, “ _ nemo!! _ ”

****

“yeah, nemo!” jaebum gasps, bouncing bambam and grinning when he giggles in surprise. “and dory, too! and sharks and turtles.”

****

“that’s so cool,” mark whispers in awe, and jaebum realizes with slight pain in his chest that they never really  _ experienced _ an aquarium — how would they, jaebum shakes his head at himself, when the time they went to the zoo was their first time as well. “can we touch them?”

****

“i know you can touch the stingrays,” jinyoung says, holding six wristbands. “c’mere, kids, we have to put on wristbands.”

****

jinyoung helps youngjae, jackson, and mark put on their wristbands, and when he puts it on bambam’s wrist, bambam ‘blows’ him a kiss, giggling, “thank you!” jinyoung coos at him and kisses his nose before putting it on jaebum’s wrist as well.

****

“thanks, jirongie,” jaebum chuckles, leaning forward to give jinyoung a quick kiss. jinyoung smiles back shyly and puts on his own wristband, and jaebum thinks it’s adorable how jinyoung still sometimes gets shy around him. “you boys ready?”

****

the boys cheer excitedly, and jinyoung leads them inside, making sure youngjae’s hand is still in his. he bends down in front of youngjae, mark, and jackson, pulling out the map he grabbed and opens it, humming, “where do you guys want to go first?”

****

“ooh, sea lions!” youngjae gasps, eyes wide. “oh!  _ oh!!! _ papa, there’s a  _ tunnel! _ ”

****

“the tunnel has turtles!” mark says, pointing at the map excitedly. “papa, can we go there first, please please  _ please _ —”

****

“all right, we can go there,” jinyoung chuckles. “but there’s also lots of other little things to look around first! look, here, there’s rooms with all types of fish…”

****

jaebum smiles as they gush over all of the fish, and he turns to bambam, stroking his cheek and humming, “you ready to see the fish, moonlight? you wanna see sharks?”

****

“ _ shark! _ ” bambam squeals, placing his little hands on jaebum’s shoulders to sit up properly in jaebum’s arms and smile down at him, and jaebum chuckles as he shushes him gently. “i like sharks!”   


jaebum’s smile widens when he hears bambam actually form a sentence, knowing he tends to forget a part of the sentence to say. “i’m glad. and then you can see the turtles, too! remember crush? you can see crush.”

****

bambam’s eyes sparkle with excitement, turning to jinyoung and saying, “ _ papa! _ wanna see crush!”

****

“we’ll see crush, then,” jinyoung chuckles, standing up properly. “jaebummie, do you want me to carry him?”

****

“i’m fine,” jaebum starts, but he looks at bambam when he wiggles insistently. “what’s wrong, bammie?”

****

“walk!” bambam insists, pointing at the ground. “ _ walk! _ ”

****

jaebum sets him down, and bambam waddles over to mark, clumsily holding his hand and nodding in satisfaction. “walk wit’ mark.”

****

mark looks up at jinyoung and jaebum, who nod at him encouragingly, and mark turns to jackson and youngjae worriedly. jackson notices and he says, “it’s okay! i can take care of jaejae!”

****

mark nods and squeezes bambam’s hand, saying softly, “wanna go see fishies?”

****

“pretty fishies,” bambam mumbles with a satisfied nod. “then sharks? an’ crush?”

****

“then sharks and crush,” mark confirms,  turning back to jaebum and jinyoung. “appa, papa, can we go look?”

****

“don’t go too fast,” jinyoung warns, and mark nods, walking into the next room and carefully leading bambam, giggling whenever bambam lets out a little “ _ oof! _ ” as he tries to keep up with mark’s pace. jinyoung turns to jackson and youngjae, saying, “you two hold hands, too, okay? try and stick with appa, so you don’t get lost. jaebummie, i’ll trail behind mark and bam to make sure they’re okay.”

****

jaebum nods, leading jackson and youngjae, and jinyoung hurries to catch up to mark and bambam. he spots them looking into the multiple cylinder fish tanks with fascination, and he smiles, going up to them and humming, “can you see, bammie?”

****

bambam’s tilting his head all the way back to look at the fish with awe, and mark exclaims, “i got it!” and carefully lifts bambam to let him peek into the fish tank. bambam lets out a little, “ _ whoa! _ ”, placing his hands on the fish tank and staring with wide eyes. jinyoung carefully places his hand on mark’s back and makes sure that he’s balanced. “you okay, markie? you want me to carry bam?”

****

“it’s okay, i got him,” mark mumbles, shifting bambam before saying sheepishly, “um… maybe a li’l bit of help. this is okay.”

****

“me supporting you is okay?” jinyoung asks, just to make sure, and mark nods. jinyoung turns to bambam and smiles, saying, “you like the fishies?”

****

“blue,” bambam mumbles, pointing at a blue fish. “is dory?”

  
“is  _ that _ dory?” jinyoung corrects softly on instinct, and he snorts when bambam scrunches up his nose. “and no, but i think we can find dory and nemo somewhere here.”

****

“markie,” bambam whines, shifting in mark’s grip, and mark lets him down in confusion. bambam looks up at mark and points at the tank, saying, “markie look at fishies.”

****

mark giggles and peers into the tank, and jinyoung holds bambam’s hand to ensure that bambam doesn’t walk away from them. mark’s smile widens enough for one of his canines to slip past his lip, and jinyoung could  _ cry _ with how cute his boys are. mark turns to jinyoung, smile still on his face, and he giggles, “the fishies are so  _ pretty _ .”

****

“let’s go look at other fishies, hm?” jinyoung coos, and bambam reaches out for mark, taking his hand and giggling as he walks with mark to more of the tanks. jinyoung looks behind him to see jaebum bending down next to jackson and youngjae, who are pointing at different types of fish excitedly and trying to read the names of the fish. he turns back to mark and bambam and smiles when he sees mark carrying bambam for him to look into another fish tank, pointing out the different fish to him.

****

jinyoung goes back to join them, and mark puts bambam down to peer into the fish tank as well. he follows them around, making sure that jaebum, jackson, and youngjae aren’t too far behind. they visit the different attractions inside the aquarium, jaebum and jinyoung now trailing behind the boys and smiling at them fondly as they look around in awe.

****

“appa, papa!” jackson says excitedly, turning to them with his eyes wide. “the  _ tunnel! _ can we go, can we go?”

****

“of course we can,” jaebum gasps dramatically, then he pretends to think. “you know, a little birdie told me… that the tunnel doesn’t  _ just _ have turtles… but also  _ sharks! _ ”

****

“ _ sharks! _ ” bambam and mark screech with joy, and youngjae’s eyes sparkle with joy. jackson claps happily and jinyoung and jaebum laugh, finding it cute how excited they all are over the sharks. mark and bambam start to lead the way, bambam chanting “ _ shark shark shark _ ” quietly under his breath as he swings his hand with mark’s.

****

“appa,” youngjae whispers, tugging on jaebum’s pants, and jaebum bends down to his level. “the sharkies can’t really hurt us, right? they’re not like when dory got hurt and — and bruce acted funny?”

****

“oh, they won’t hurt you, sunshine,” jaebum coos, petting his hair. “and the tunnel has  _ super _ strong glass that it can’t break — not even  _ superman _ can break it.”

****

“really?” youngjae gasps softly, eyes wide as he smacks his hands against the sides of his face. “that’s  _ strong! _ ”

****

“that’s right,” jaebum hums with a nod. “and the sharks don’t bother you if you don’t bother them. just don’t tap the glass, baby. either way, they can’t hurt you.”

****

youngjae nods and jaebum stands as youngjae starts tugging on his hand, saying, “come on! we gotta catch up!”

****

jaebum lets youngjae drag him to catch up to the others, and youngjae lets go of jaebum’s hand to walk with jackson. jinyoung slows his steps until he’s walking in time with jaebum, asking softly, “is jae okay?”

****

“yeah,” jaebum says, smiling at how bambam points at a clownfish and excitedly says, “nemo!!” “he just didn’t know if the sharks could hurt us, but i explained to him that the glass is strong and to just not tap on it. i also made him believe that not even superman can break it.”

****

“i’m sure he’s fascinated about that,” jinyoung chuckles as they reach the tunnel. “boys — stay close to us, okay? don’t wander off from us or each other.”

****

the kids wait for jinyoung and jaebum to be next to them before proceeding into the tunnel. there’s soft sounds of awe from the boys as they look around, the gentle glow of blues and greens illuminating their faces.

****

“look!” mark whispers, him and bambam getting closer to the glass. he points up and grins at jackson and youngjae, saying, “sharks! and turtles!”

****

jackson and youngjae rush over to the glass, staring up in awe at all the fish and turtles and sharks swimming around. jinyoung and jaebum watch from behind them, smiling as mark lifts bambam up momentarily to get him to see better. jaebum bends down and rubs mark’s back, humming, “do you want me to hold bammie, so you can see better?”   


mark thinks about it before nodding, and jaebum carefully picks up bambam from mark’s arms and gently bounces him in his arms, cooing, “you like the sharks, moonlight?”

****

bambam nods, mouth slightly open with awe as he looks around. the soft hues of the greens and blues make bambam’s eyes seem to sparkle even more as bambam fists jaebum’s shirt. jaebum glances down at jinyoung and smiles when he sees jinyoung bent down next to the boys, quietly pointing out each of the turtles and sharks for them to look at. bambam pats jaebum’s cheek and jaebum turns back to him, tilting his head and humming, “yes, bammie?”   


“big shark,” bambam whispers in awe, pointing at a shark swimming around slowly. “it’s a big shark.”

****

“you’re right, it  _ is _ a big shark.” jaebum nods proudly, studying the shark carefully before scanning the information stands all around to figure out the type of shark. “it’s a  _ sand tiger shark _ .”

****

bambam furrows his eyebrows, and jaebum chuckles, knowing that bambam’s trying to connect the concept of a tiger and a shark together. “it’s not related to a tiger, angel. it’s just called that.”

****

“sand tiger shark…,” bambam mumbles to himself, little fists clutching at jaebum’s shirt again. “it’s big.”

****

jaebum continues to rub bambam’s back gently as bambam looks around, walking around but making sure he doesn’t stray too far from jinyoung and the boys. bambam points at all of the different turtles and sharks, with jaebum softly explaining each of the names of the animals. they reach the end of the tunnel and he waits for the others, kissing bambam’s cheeks and making him giggle softly.

****

“appa, did you see all the sharks?” jackson says excitedly as they reach jaebum and bambam, tugging at his pants eagerly. “did ya?”

****

“i did!” jaebum gasps, ruffling jackson’s hair. “they were really big, huh?”

****

“ _ super _ big!” youngjae nods with a grin, bouncing with joy. his cheeks are tinted pink as he talks excitedly with mark and jackson about all of the animals they’ve seen. 

****

“did our bammie like the sharks and turtles?” jinyoung coos, petting bambam’s hair and kissing his forehead. “did you like it?”

****

“i liked it,” bambam says with a nod before wiggling in jaebum’s arms. he looks up at jaebum and points at mark, scrunching up his nose in thought before saying, “can i walk wit’ mark?”

****

“of course you can!” jinyoung gasps dramatically as jaebum kisses his cheek and sets him down. “but don’t let go of mark’s hand, understand?”

****

“mhm!” bambam grins up at jinyoung and jaebum, and mark immediately holds bambam’s tiny hand in his. “more fishies?”

****

“i think we’re near the end, actually,” jaebum says as they exit the tunnel. he and jinyoung lead them back, humming, “are you boys hungry? how about we check out the gift shop and then eat?”

****

“do they have stuffed animals in the gift shop?” jackson gasps, turning to youngjae. “we can get  _ sharks! _ ”

****

“and dolphins!” youngjae gasps just as loudly, eyes wide. “hyung can get jellyfish and bammie can get nemo!”

****

bambam’s eyes sparkle with excitement at the mention of nemo, tugging at mark’s hand. mark looks down at bambam, who grins up at him and whispers, “can get nemo?”

****

“yeah!” mark nods eagerly as they all go into the gift shop. he looks up at jinyoung, asking, “papa, how many things can we get?”

****

“how about two things each?” jinyoung suggests softly, looking over at jaebum, who nods in agreement. “anything you want, but no more than two each.”

****

jinyoung and jaebum let the kids roam, jinyoung sticking close to mark and bambam while jaebum stays near jackson and youngjae. jinyoung smiles when mark leads bambam to where the clownfish plushies are rather than wandering over to the jellyfish plushies. bambam points to the large clownfish plushie on the top shelf, bouncing on the spot and eagerly saying, “i want nemo, p’ease!”

****

mark stands on his toes and reaches up, scrunching up his nose in concentration as he tries to get it down. he pouts as he relaxes, saying, “i can’t get it, it’s too high up.”

****

“here you go,” jinyoung says, reaching for the plushie and picking it up before handing it to bambam. “you want this one?”

****

“yes!! thank you,” bambam giggles happily, hugging it to his chest. “can i have more?”

****

“one more,” jinyoung reminds him, and bambam pouts up at him. “i know, angel, but everyone’s getting two. next time we come we can get more.”

****

“okay,” bambam mumbles, looking around the store with wide eyes. “anything?”

****

“anything,” jinyoung reassures, smiling down at him and petting his hair. “even if you want something small or big, you can get it.”

****

bambam nods absentmindedly, still looking around at all of the different types of plushies and toys. he lets go of mark’s hand and runs over to another section of the store, and jinyoung makes a noise in the back of his throat before following him, mark right behind jinyoung. bambam’s standing in front of the penguin plushies, looking up at them all with his mouth slightly open and eyes sparkling.

****

“papa,” mark whispers loudly, poking jinyoung’s leg and looking up at him. “i think bammie really likes penguins, too.”

****

“i think so, too,” jinyoung whispers just as loudly, ruffling mark’s hair. he goes up to bambam and bends down next to him, cooing, “do you like the penguins, moonlight?”

****

“penguins are cute,” bambam says quietly, eyes still fixated on the tiny penguin plushie on the shelf. he grabs it and shows it to jinyoung, a hopeful look on his face as he asks, “get penguin?”

****

jinyoung gives him a look, and bambam scrunches up his nose in thought before saying, “can i get penguin?”

****

“yes, you can get the plushie,” jinyoung coos with a smile, kissing bambam’s cheek. bambam grins widely at him and he hugs the two plushies close to his chest. jinyoung turns to mark, hand on bambam’s back to make sure he doesn’t run off. “mark, what do you want to get?”

****

“i really liked the turtles, they were  _ super  _ cool,” mark says, a fascinated smile overcoming his features. “and the jellyfish were really pretty, they looked super squishy.”

****

“then that’s what we’ll go get.” jinyoung holds their hands and leads them over to the jellyfish plushies. mark grabs the lavender colored one, giggling at the little smiley face on it. jinyoung then leads them over to the turtles, smiling when mark gasps loudly at the large array of turtle plushies. mark grabs the largest one and looks at jinyoung questioningly, smiling in relief when jinyoung gives him a nod. “let’s go find appa and your brothers, okay?”

****

meanwhile, jaebum watches with amusement as jackson and youngjae try to reach the biggest shark and dolphin plushies on the shelves. he thinks it’s adorable how jackson keeps jumping up and down in an attempt to reach it and how youngjae keeps making grabby hands like there will be some magic force that’ll help. then, the two turn to him, whining loudly, “ _ appa, help! _ ”

****

“of course, angels,” jaebum hums, reaching up and bringing the two plushies down for them. he hands them the plushies and coos at them when he sees that the plushies are almost as big as their little bodies. “one more for each of you, whatever you want.”

****

“i want a whale!” jackson says loudly, grinning up widely at jaebum. jaebum coos at him, ruffling his hair — one of jackson’s bottom teeth had fallen out, so there’s a little gap in his mouth that jaebum finds adorable. “the black and white one. the orca!”

****

“oh, that’s a good one,” jaebum marvels in agreement, nodding at jackson. he turns to youngjae, who looks deep in thought, and asks, “what about you, sunshine?”

****

“i.. i dunno,” youngjae mumbles with a pout, looking up at jaebum with worry in his eyes. “i dunno.”

****

jaebum hums, thinking for a bit before saying, “what about an otter — remember them? they’re cute and small and love to play with the toys in the water, it reminds me of you.”

****

“really?” youngjae gasps, the worry in his eyes dissipating to be replaced with joy and sparkles. “okay! i want an otter!”

****

“let’s go get those two, then!” jaebum cheers, sticking his tongue out when jackson and youngjae snicker at him. jaebum leads them to the whale plushies and jackson grabs the baby orca plushie with a happy expression. they search around for the otters after that, and jaebum’s about to tell youngjae that he can’t find them before youngjae lets out a squeal and runs to a section of the store. he runs back with an otter plushie, thrusting it out to show it off to jaebum and jackson, giggling, “look! i found the otter!”

****

“that’s great,” jaebum gasps dramatically, bending down to kiss youngjae’s forehead. “let’s go find papa, markie, and bammie.”

****

“not if we found you first,” jinyoung chuckles as he approaches them with mark and bambam. “did you two find the things you want?”

****

jackson nods eagerly, hugging his plushies close, and youngjae holds out the otter plushie to show it to jinyoung. “look! appa said that i’m cute like, like an otter! and that they like to p-play in the water with toys like me in bathtime!”

****

“oh, i think your appa’s correct,” jinyoung whispers loudly, smiling at jaebum. he shifts bambam’s plushies in his arms so that they don’t slip, adding, “how about we go buy all of your plushies, hm?”

****

“did you get something?” jackson asks, tilting his head.

****

jinyoung nods and points over at bambam, who’s shaking a snow globe with wide, fascinated eyes. “we got a snow globe for decoration, and it looks like bammie really likes it.”

****

“jackjack, jaejae, look at it!” mark waves them over, looking at the snow globe in bambam’s hands with equally wide eyes. “it’s snowing on the animals inside!”

****

“that’s so cool,” youngjae gasps in awe as he and jackson huddle next to them, the four of them focusing on the ‘snow’ in the snow globe. “whoa…”

****

“c’mon, angels,” jinyoung coaxes, leading them to the cash register as jaebum keeps a close eye on bambam, since he’s still so focused on the snow globe. jaebum starts to pull out his wallet, but jinyoung shakes his head with a smile, already holding out his card with a wink in jaebum’s direction. “you can take care of lunch, hyung, i promise.”

****

“fine,” jaebum chuckles, and he lets jinyoung take care of the plushies as he bends down in front of bambam, who shakes the snow globe once more to watch it snow. “hey, moonlight. you like the snow globe?”

****

“it’s  _ snowing! _ ” bambam squeaks, looking up at jaebum with a wide grin. “look! snow on giraffe an’ lion an’ zebra!”

****

“yeah, that’s right!” jaebum gasps back, brushing his bangs away from his eyes. “isn’t it cool? what plushies did you get, sweetie?”

****

“nemo and penguin,” bambam says, focus already back on the snow globe as he shakes it again. “they’re small. penguin is  _ super  _ soft.”

****

jaebum hums, noticing how bambam strings together full sentences when he’s talking about something he loves. “you like things that are soft, don’t you?”

****

bambam nods, waiting for the snow to fall to the bottom of the globe before shaking it again. “yeah! soft an’ cute. makes me happy.”

****

“that’s great, angel,” jaebum says, looking up when jinyoung gently calls for them, pointing at the snow globe. “ah — bammie, can you give papa the snow globe?”

****

“no!” bambam whines, hugging the snow globe to his chest. “ _ no! _ it’s mine!”

****

“they just need to scan it, moonlight, i’ll give it right back,” jinyoung promises, holding out his hand. “be good, bammie, it’ll only be a few seconds.”

****

bambam sulks for a bit, a large pout on his lips as he contemplates it. he gives it to jinyoung, who quickly gives it to the cashier to scan before handing it back to bambam. “here, sweetie.”

****

“t’ank you,” bambam says, much happier now as he shakes the globe again. jaebum chuckles as bambam shakes the globe again, the toddler saying to himself, “it’s snowin’! e’eryone gotta stay warm!”

****

“okay, let’s go get some lunch,” jinyoung says after he’s paid, mark and jackson each holding a bag while jinyoung holds the third bag. “youngjae, stay with me, okay? bammie, stay close to your appa. mark, sseun, stay in between us, next to youngjae and bambam.”

****

bambam holds jaebum’s hand, clutching the snow globe in his other hand, keeping his focus on it. youngjae holds jinyoung’s hand, and mark and jackson walk between the two, talking animatedly to each other about the animals.

****

“papa, what are we gonna eat?” youngjae asks, curious eyes looking up at jinyoung.

****

“there’s this little korean restaurant in here that your appa and i went to a few times,” jinyoung hums, leading them to the restaurant. “the portions are kind of big, so you and bammie are gonna share, and mark and sseun will share?”

****

“will appa and papa share, too?” jackson gasps, making mark giggle and let out a little, “ _ ooo, appa and papa are gonna share~ _ ”.

****

“we might,” jaebum teases, and jinyoung rolls his eyes fondly. they enter the restaurant, and jaebum softly tells the owner that they’re six before they’re led to a table. “we’ll see, okay?”

****

jinyoung sits with mark and jackson in the chairs, while jaebum sits in between youngjae and bambam in the booth. they’re given menus, and jinyoung let's mark and jackson look over one together as jaebum helps youngjae read his. jinyoung drums his fingers against the table in front of bambam, who looks up from the snow globe curiously. jinyoung smiles at him and says, “you really like the snow globe, hm? do you like it more than your nemo and your penguin?”

****

bambam gasps, looking at the snow globe before looking back at jinyoung. “no… love nemo the most!”

****

“more than me and appa and your hyungs?” jinyoung gasps dramatically, widening his eyes.

****

bambam shakes his head, hair flopping in front of his eyes, and jinyoung coos at him, reminding himself that bambam might just need a haircut soon. “nuh-uh!! love appa an’ papa an’ hyungies most.”

****

“i’m glad,” jinyoung hums, reaching out and ruffling bambam’s hair. bambam smiles up at him and shakes the globe before setting it on the table, watching it carefully.

****

“papa,” jackson whispers, poking jinyoung’s arm insistently. jinyoung turns and looks at the menu that mark’s holding up. “can we get this?”

****

“which one?”

****

“ch.. chogye guksu,” jackson reads slowly, before grinning up proudly at jinyoung. “chogye guksu!” 

****

“of course you can.” jinyoung smiles at him reassuringly, kissing the top of his head and petting mark’s hair. “you two are okay with sharing that?”

****

mark nods, closing the menu and placing it on the table. “mhm! it looks yummy. it’s chicken and noodles and soup, so that’s really nice.”

****

“i’m glad,” jinyoung hums, watching as jackson and mark turn to each other and whisper to one another. jinyoung chuckles fondly and turns to jaebum and youngjae, asking, “what about you, youngjae?”

****

“i want bu… bulgo-gi deopbap,” youngjae says carefully, furrowing his eyebrows as he follows his finger underneath the words. he looks up with wide eyes at jaebum, who nods encouragingly at him. “bulgogi deopbap! but will bammie eat it, too?”

****

“bammie will probably eat anything as long as we say it’s okay,” jaebum jokes, turning to bambam and nudging him gently. bambam looks up at him, and jaebum asks, “you want to eat rice and meat, moonlight?”

****

“bu’gogi?” bambam whispers, and when jaebum nods, bambam smiles cutely up at him and nods eagerly. “i like bu’gogi!”

****

“i’m getting us rice and bulgogi, bammie!” youngjae bounces in his seat, evidently excited that he got something bambam would like to eat as well. “we’re gonna share!”

****

“okay!” bambam holds out his snow globe to youngjae, adding, “shake the snow globe! ‘s snowing!”

****

youngjae grabs the snow globe and shakes it, setting it on the table in front of jaebum so both he and bambam can watch the snow fall down. “ah! it’s snowing on the animals!”

****

“snowin’ on the giraffe an’ lion an’ zebra!” bambam sits on his knees and points at the animals inside the globe. “lion’s gonna help giraffe an’ zebra like appa an’ papa!”

****

“yeah, appa and papa protect us super good like a lion!” youngjae nods, picking up the snow globe and shaking it again when the snow all settles. “and appa snores loud like a lion.”

****

jaebum gasps loudly as bambam squeals with laughter, sitting back on his butt and kicking his little legs in amusement. “how could you?”

****

“it’s funny,” mark teases, looking up at jaebum and sticks out his tongue. “you’re super loud! you scare all of the monsters away, too.”

****

“well, in that case, maybe i’ll snore even louder, just like a dinosaur.” jaebum taps his chin in thought, knowing that even bambam’s attention was on him. “which dinosaur should i snore as loud as…?”

****

“you can do a — a super high snore like a pte—ptero—pteroda-ctyl!” jackson says with glee as jinyoung quietly tells the waiter that came over what they’d like to order, making sure to get his and jaebum’s usual meals. “then the monsters would get  _ super _ scared.”

****

“no, no, appa should be a t-rex,” mark says with a shake of his head. “papa should be the pterodactyl! ‘cause he can do a high voice. appa is just super loud, so he can be a t-rex!”

****

“i think your appa would make a good t-rex,” jinyoung comments after he thanks the wait and turns back to his family with a family. “he’d roar  _ super _ loud and then all of the monsters would leave immediately.”

****

“tha’s so cool,” bambam whispers in awe, patting jaebum’s arm insistently. “appa, appa, roar!”

****

“when we get home, before you all sleep, i’ll roar extra loud so there’s no monsters, okay?” jaebum kisses the top of bambam’s head and gives youngjae a one armed hug, rubbing his arm gently. “and if they do come back, you tell me and i’ll make sure they don’t come back. or you ask your papa and he’ll do a pterodactyl screech.”

****

“i’ll scare them away,” jinyoung whispers dramatically, widening his eyes at his boys, grinning when they all giggle. he loves making such silly expressions to them, knowing that it makes them all happy and excited, especially when he reads them bedtime stories. 

****

“and if they still come back, i’ll fight ‘em!” jackson says determinedly, throwing small punches in the air. his eyes gleam as he grins at bambam and youngjae, who are staring at him with awe. “i won’t let ‘em hurt markie or jae or bammie!”

****

“what about me and papa?” jaebum asks, giving jackson a playful pout, making mark giggle at his expression. 

****

jackson sticks his tongue out, pink dusting his cheeks as he tries to contain his laughter. “you can protect you and papa, ‘cause you’re super loud.”

****

“yeah, hyung, don’t you wanna protect me?” jinyoung gives him puppy eyes, batting his eyelashes at him and trying not to grin when bambam squeals with laughter once more and stomps his little feet on the booth seat. “why won’t you?”

****

“fine, i will,” jaebum sighs as if he was reluctant about the idea. he grabs the chopsticks and takes them out of their packaging, giving one each to mark and jackson. he looks at youngjae, humming, “do you want to use a spoon with your food, sunshine? or would you like to use chopsticks?”

****

youngjae thinks about it, pursing his lips as he stares down at the chopsticks. jaebum gently pets the back of his head when youngjae contemplates it for a little bit too long, humming, “if you choose chopsticks, i’ll still have a spoon on the side if it’s difficult. you can use whatever you’re comfortable with.”

****

“i’ll— i’ll use chopsticks,” youngjae says, accepting the chopsticks from jaebum. “thank you, appa.”

****

“and you, li’l moonlight,” jaebum says, turning to bambam and gently pinching his nose, making bambam pout up at him in confusion as jaebum lets go. “you’ll use a spoon, okay?”

****

bambam nods absentmindedly, leaning into jaebum and snuggling against his arm. “appa, watch movie?”

****

“it’ll only be a few minutes, so how about pororo instead?” jaebum pulls out his phone, searching for a pororo episode and pressing play. he sets it up against his glass of water (when had that gotten there? jinyoung, probably. bless him) and he smiles as bambam and youngjae cuddle closer to him as they watch.

****

“markie, sseun,” jinyoung says, turning to the two boys. mark grins up at him, and jinyoung coos at mark’s two missing bottom teeth. “how’s your homework going?”

****

“i read my book with  _ no _ help to markie hyung!” jackson boasts proudly, puffing out his chest and putting his hands on his hips. “i think i can read your books, too, papa!”

****

“is that so?” jinyoung gasps, pinching jackson’s cheek gently. “i’m _ so _ proud of you! do you want to read a different book tonight for when you go to sleep?”

****

jackson seems excited, practically jumping in his seat, and jinyoung gently pats his thigh to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself on accident. “yes!  _ yes! _ i’ma read it to you.”

****

“i won’t even be reading you your bedtime story?” jinyoung pretends to wipe away a tear. “my baby’s all grown up now.”

****

jackson’s eyes widen comically, staying still as he exclaims, “no!” before quieting when jinyoung gently shushes him. “no, i still want papa or appa to read to me.”

****

“i’m joking, sweetie, i’ll still read to you,” jinyoung croons, kissing jackson’s nose. “you can choose what story to read, okay?

****

“and markie,” jinyoung adds, smiling over at mark, who’s been waiting patiently with wide, eager eyes. “what about you?”

****

“i’m super fast now with my math.” mark’s evidently giddy about this, and jinyoung feels proud too, knowing mark needed a little bit of extra help with his math. mark and jackson were opposites with their homework — mark was better at getting the hang of reading, while jackson was faster in the little math homework he gets, so they tend to help each other. “sseunie helped a tiny bit. i finished all of my coloring pages, too.”

****

“that’s good, i’m proud of the both of you,” jinyoung replies, giving mark and jackson a smile to portray that feeling to him. “next time you have homework, you can do it with appa and you can show him how fast and good you two have gotten.” 

****

mark and jackson nod eagerly at this, giving each other high fives. jinyoung catches jaebum’s gaze and jaebum smirks slightly at him, making jinyoung roll his eyes. at that moment, the waiter comes with a cart full of their meals and side dishes. jaebum moves his phone as the waiter places down the bulgogi deopbap, smiling when a bowl of yukgae ramen is placed in front of him. the waiter hands him an empty bowl, and jaebum thinks that honestly, bless jinyoung for thinking of getting another bowl for bambam.

****

mark and jackson both let out little gasps in excitement as their bowl of chogye guksu is placed in front of them, but then jackson wrinkles his nose when jinyoung’s bowl of sogogi curry deopbap is placed in front of jinyoung. “papa, is that  _ spicy? _ ”

****

“a little bit, angel,” jinyoung chuckles, watching as jackson sticks out his tongue. “i won’t make you try it, okay?”

****

jackson nods and picks up his chopsticks, him and mark beginning to eat their food. “it’s yummy, thank you, papa!”

****

bambam whines loudly as jaebum puts away his phone, whimpering, “ap _ pa _ , wan’ pororo!”

****

“you have to eat first before you can watch more pororo, okay?” jaebum mumbles, carefully portioning some rice, bulgogi, and vegetables into the empty bowl for bambam. “i promise you’ll be able to watch later.”

****

bambam whines again, sulking as the bowl is placed in front of him with a spoon. “wan’  _ pororo _ .”

****

“if you eat at least half of your food, you’ll get pororo,” jaebum negotiates, placing the spoon in bambam’s hand. “please?”

****

bambam pouts slightly before taking a spoonful of food and putting it in his mouth. jaebum pets his hair with a smile before turning to youngjae, who’s eagerly eating his food. “do you like it, sunshine?”

****

youngjae nods, swallowing the food in his mouth and giving jaebum a thumbs up. “it’s super good.”

****

“do you want to try some of mine, jae?” jinyoung asks, gathering some of his own food with his chopsticks. “it’s like yours and bammie’s, but a little bit spicier.”

****

youngjae wiggles forward, opening his mouth and letting out a small “ _ aah~ _ ”. jinyoung coos at him and carefully feeds youngjae, watching as youngjae chews it thoughtfully. he’s unsure of whether or not it’s a little too spicy for youngjae as the young boy swallows the food. youngjae then grins at jinyoung, giggling as he says, “it’s  _ hot! _ but it’s not super spicy.”

****

“if you want a little bit, just tell me, okay?” jinyoung says as he turns to jaebum, who’s lifting up some ramen towards jinyoung with a raise of his eyebrow. jinyoung rolls his eyes, knowing jaebum just  _ loves _ to try and embarrass him, and he lets jaebum feed him the ramen. “hyung, take some of mine if you want, too.”

****

“i know, i will,” jaebum chuckles, already reaching over to grab some of jinyoung’s deopbap. “we always share our food here.”

****

“ew,” bambam mumbles under his breath, making jackson snort and mark giggle into their guksu. bambam scoops another spoonful of rice and bulgogi into his mouth, unbothered as he stares up at everyone with his wide eyes. “appa an’ papa being  _ yucky _ .”

****

“oh, you little brat,” jaebum sighs fondly, shaking his head as he fixes bambam’s messy hair. bambam swallows his food and eyes jaebum’s ramen, pursing his lips in thought as he watches jaebum eat the ramen. jaebum looks over at him and raises an eyebrow, waiting for bambam to say something instead of just staring — their doctor had said to try and let bambam speak up on his own instead of immediately giving him the thing they know he wants. bambam looks as though he’s contemplating speaking up, before he finally asks, “can i try ramen?”

****

“of course, moonlight.” jaebum carefully gathers a bit of ramen and a piece of beef in his chopsticks and blows on it gently, making sure it’s not too hot for bambam. he holds it up towards bambam and bambam opens his mouth, eyes eagerly watching the ramen and humming happily when it gets in his mouth. jaebum gently wipes at the sauce on the side of bambam’s mouth, humming, “does it taste good, moonlight?”

****

“i like it,” bambam says, already scooting closer to lean in towards the bowl. he eyes jaebum, who’s still smiling down at him fondly, and asks, “more?”

****

“just one more,” jaebum tells him, and bambam huffs but nods, opening his mouth as jaebum feeds him some more ramen. he wipes bambam’s mouth again and kisses his temple, saying, “finish your food, moonlight, so you can watch pororo again, remember?”

****

bambam gasps softly, a little excited “ _ pororo! _ ” slipping passed his lips as he hurriedly turns back to his food and shoves a spoonful of rice in his mouth. youngjae giggles at how eager bambam is to finish his food, swallowing the food in his mouth to say, “bammie’s funny. he really likes pororo.”

****

“maybe that’s why bammie wanted the penguin plushie!” mark gasps with realization, looking over at jinyoung with eyes widening excitedly. “ _ papa! _ he got the penguin ‘cause of pororo! pororo’s a penguin!”

****

jinyoung smiles at how excited mark seems at realizing this point, the young boy nearly falling out of his seat with how much he’s bouncing with joy. “i didn’t even realize that, you’re so smart, markie! maybe we should get him some pororo toys, too, whenever we can. or maybe for christmas.”

****

mark’s face lights up happily, cheeks bunching up as he grins at jinyoung before he turns back to eating his food with jackson. they all eat in silence for a while, and jinyoung startles when his phone rings. he pulls it out and jaebum gives him a questioning look, and jinyoung mouths “ _ wooyoung _ ” in shock before hastily answering. “hello?”

****

“ _ jinyoung, hi _ ,” wooyoung says, and jinyoung tilts his head at the happy tone in wooyoung’s voice. “ _ i’ve got some news for you _ .”

****

“do you now?” jinyoung sets down his chopsticks, looking jaebum in the eye as he speaks with wooyoung. jackson looks up at him curiously and jinyoung pets his hair absentmindedly, smiling when jackson keens with joy. “what is it?”

****

“ _ yeeun came to a decision, _ ” wooyoung starts, and jinyoung’s hand freezes on top of jackson’s head. “ _ i’m glad to tell you that you and jaebum are the couple she chose! it was a tough decision, she was considering another at the same time, but she remembered how fond you two sounded about the boys, especially bambam, and, well, it was an immediate decision from there _ .”

****

“are you serious?” jinyoung breathes out, breaking out into a grin as he keeps eye contact with jaebum, who’s beginning to realize what was being said on the other line. “that’s — f— frick, that’s great.  _ shoot _ , thank you, hyung,  _ thank you _ .”

****

jaebum snorts at the way that jinyoung censored his swearing, stuffing his mouth with ramen to avoid saying anything. jinyoung rolls his eyes at him as wooyoung chuckles, “ _ it’s no problem. by the way that you’re censoring your swearing and i heard jaebum snort, you’re out with the kids, yeah? _ ”

****

“yeah, we are,” jinyoung hums, continuing to pet jackson’s hair as the boy continue to eat his food. “we took them to the aquarium — they were really excited to see the different types of fish and sharks and all. they got to choose their own stuffed animals, too.”

****

“ _ that sounds like fun _ ,” wooyoung says. “ _ i’ll leave you guys to have your fun. i’ll text you when yeeun and i figure out a date for a first official meeting. bye, jinyoung-ah. tell jaebum and the boys i say hi. _ ”

****

“i will, bye and thank you, hyung.” jinyoung smiles as he hangs up the phone, placing it screen down on the table. “wooyoung hyung says hi to everyone.”

****

“i miss wooyoungie hyungie,” jackson sighs dramatically, twirling the noodles in the bowl. “but what did he call about? was it about the baby?”

****

“well,” jinyoung says with a grin directed towards jaebum, whose eyes are lighting up with joy and realization, “you’re right. the mom, she decided that we would be a good couple to adopt her baby when he’s born.”

****

jaebum reaches out, intertwining his fingers with jinyoung’s and squeezing his hand with a soft smile. jinyoung meets his gaze with an equally soft smile, and youngjae squeaks out, “so we’re — we’re gonna have the baby?”

****

“yeah, we are,” jinyoung chuckles, finding it cute how mark, jackson, and youngjae all gasped softly in excitement. bambam looks up from his bowl curiously, cheeks puffed out due to the food in his mouth. jaebum leans down to kiss the top of his head, and bambam scrunches up his nose before continuing to chew his food. 

****

“we’re gonna be  _ super _ big bros,” mark says in awe, tiny sparkles emerging in his eyes. “are we gonna be able to play with the baby?”

****

“remember when you had to wait for two or three months before playing with bammie fully?” jaebum asks, making the three boys nod curiously. “he was a little over a year old, so you’re going to have to wait until the baby’s that old to play with him like you do with bammie. you can play pretend with the baby — sseun, like how you pretend the dinosaurs are gonna eat youngjae and bammie — or play with him with baby toys.”

****

“oh, okay.” mark picks up a piece of chicken and puts it in his mouth, chewing it thoughtfully. when he swallows, he asks, “can we get him a plushie, too?”

****

“of course we can,” jinyoung says, slowly letting go of jaebum’s hand after squeezing it once more. “what do you boys think he should have?”

****

“lion!”

****

“puppy!”

****

“starfish!”

****

jinyoung hums and nods at mark, jackson, and youngjae’s opinions, mulling over the choices being given to him. his interest piques when bambam mumbles, “dory.”

****

“what was that, moonlight?” jaebum coos, tilting his head towards bambam, lips quirking up into a smile when bambam tilts his own head. “can you say that again?”

****

“dory,” bambam repeats, a little louder than before. “i have nemo, baby have dory.”

****

“oh! bammie wantsta match,” youngjae pipes up, eager to be the one to tell jaebum and jinyoung what bambam means. “he wantsta match with the baby!”

****

“then he can match with the baby like how he wants to.” jinyoung makes little kissy faces at bambam, who giggles and sticks out his tongue. jinyoung shakes his head fondly, going back to his food and eating. “maybe we’ll get him one of the other plushies later.”

****

“‘m done!” bambam exclaims proudly, patting jaebum’s arm and pointing at his empty bowl. “done.”

****

“are you still hungry, li’l snake?” jaebum asks gently, finding it cute how bambam’s grinning widely up at him with his little teeth on display. “do you want more food?”

****

bambam shakes his head, pushing away his bowl. “no, t’ank you. can i watch pororo?”

****

“of course you can, i’m proud you finished your food,” jaebum says as he pulls out his phone, putting the pororo episode that was playing before they started eating, placing it against bambam’s bowl to let him watch. “here you go, moonlight.”

****

“t’ank you,” bambam mumbles, grabbing his cup with both of his hands, gripping it tightly as he drinks some water with the straw. jaebum hurriedly places his own hand at the bottom of the cup to steady the cup to make sure it doesn’t slip and fall. bambam lets the straw slip out of his mouth and he puts the cup back on the table. “appa and youngjae watch pororo.”

****

jaebum nods and shifts the bowl and his phone so it’s in front of him, carefully repositioning his own bowl so that bambam and youngjae can watch pororo. jaebum motions his ramen towards jinyoung questioningly, who grabs the empty bowl that had contained a side dish and holds it out. jaebum carefully puts some ramen in the bowl, whispering, “how’re you feeling, jirongie?”

****

“excited,” jinyoung admits quietly, smiling shyly at jaebum as he puts down the bowl. “i can’t wait…”

****

“cute,” jaebum mumbles, turning back to his food with a grin. “neither can i.”

****

they eat in silence for a while longer, and jackson pipes up curiously, “appa, papa… how are babies, like, born?”

****

jaebum and jinyoung freeze up, looking at each other with wide eyes.

****

ah,  _ fuck _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope u all enjoyed!!!! cant promise that the next update for this will be Soon but hopefully it's not like... in a year

**Author's Note:**

> hope u all enjoyedddd!!! idk when the next chapter will go up hfdbgfdjnhf lets hope Soon uwu


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